Prodigal Brothers
by Mageapprent
Summary: What happens when one sacrifice changes the course of history? What if Kushina had sealed the Kyuubi into Naruto and Minato lived? Do the events play out the same? What if somehow the Senju and the Yamanaka familty tree met, creating a single member to return them back to their former glory?
1. Prologue I: Small Changes

**Hey guys first ever fan-fic. I thought I'd see if this story that's been bouncing around in my head comes out how I want. Enjoy and please review I would love some feedback. Next chapters should be relatively longer. **

**I have an outline that I'm going to be sticking to and I'll be attempting to update ASAP. This fan-fic, should it come to fruition, will be EPIC in length and I sure do hope that you bear with me as I'm learning as I go. There will be 3 major time-skips and pairings are already set, BUT I will not reveal them because I feel that by revealing the pairing there is no surprise factor. **

**E****X: If I tell you my main pairing is Naru/Saku and decide to start them off with a good relationship than break up and see other people, you'll know that in the end they'll be together anyway and it takes away from any other relationships the characters may develop since you know the end result. (This was an example do not assume this is what the pairing of my story will be, like I said you'll find out in due time ^_^)**

**There will be no Harem in this fic, Harem's can be tastefully done, but it screws over all the other dudes in the series and in my opinion is very 2-dimensional.**

**NOTE: This chapter is un-beta'd I personally edited and reviewed so I apologize in advance for any mistakes. **

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of the characters in the Naruto Universe,**

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><p>On the night of October 10th a terrible being known as the Kyuubi rampaged through the peaceful village of Konohagakure no Sato. On this night many great shinobi were lost, and on this very night, was born the greatest of them all….<p>

A chill was all that was felt throughout the village. Everywhere shinobi alike felt the presence of something dark, something…ominous.

Within seconds an enormous Kitsune appeared within the confines of the village and thus began the mass panic.

And so began the destruction,

Buildings crumpled under its paws, shinobi fell like flies to its nine-batting-ram-like tails. Through it all only one thought ran through the minds of the citizens of Konoha. Where was their Yondaime?

At this moment "The Professor" appeared. The retired Sandaime Hokage, Sarutobi Hiruzen, stood there looking down upon the Kitsune. At 56 years of age, his demeanor had not diminished. Along with his samurai armor, he made for an imposing figure on the battle field that inspired a fierce loyalty within the Konoha shinobi. This allowed them to regain their focus. Knowing that the man once hailed as the **Kami no Shinobi(God of Shinobi) **would see them through this disaster until their Yondaime returned. Hiruzen was what ever true leader aimed to be, calm on the outside, but in his mind he was processing various strategies with which to take down the beast threatening his home.

'What happened during the childbirth? With Minato and his wife Biwako present there should have been no possible incident,' thought the Sandaime, 'We'll have to stall as much as possible and hope that Minato will arrive soon with some answers.'This all happened within a split second, the next he was directing his shinobi to combat the titan within the village.

"Regroup!" yelled the Sandaime. Turning to the Jounin commander, Nara Shikaku, a man with 3 scars marring his face he began to issue orders.

"Get the civilians into their evacuation zones and protect the King! I want none of our future shinobi fighting this beast. Gather your clansmen and begin working on ensnaring that beast. Work with the Akimichi to restrain the beast. I want the Sarutobi and Uchiha clans launching a full ninjutsu offensive on the beast. Instruct the Hyuuga to begin evacuations and to protect the civilians at all costs. Bring me Inoichi so I may transmit my orders to the shinobi. We must stall until Minato arrives. "

"Hai Hokage-sama," replied the normally lazy Nara, now was not the time for games, as he shunshin'd away from the area to begin gathering the clans and clan heads, he thought about the King that Sarutobi spoke of. The children and the future shinobi of Konohagakure. They would not be involved in this battle, they must be kept safe and away from the beast. The will of fire must, no it WILL continue to the next generation.

Almost at once Inoichi arrived by the Hokage's side. With the presence of the Yamanaka mind-reader Hokage began distributing his orders as he watched scores of shinobi mindlessly attack the beast. Once the orders were telepathically transmitted to his captains and clan heads, he bit the end of his thumb and began forming the seals of his summoning technique.

"_**Kuchiyose no Jutsu (Summoning Technique)**_!" shouted the Sandaime. From the smoke emerged Enma, the king of the monkeys, who instantly took note of the situation.

"It finally happened, eh?" said Enma with a sigh

"Hai," replied the Sandaime, "It is up to us to ensure that the beast does not cause more harm, let's go, Enma!" and with that Enma transformed into an abnormally large adamantium staff, which Hiruzen wielded with more finesse than thought possible for a staff that large.

As the clans began to arrive one by one they began to comply with the Sandaime's orders. A troop of Nara clansmen joined together and launched their clan technique, the _**Kagemane no Jutsu(Shadow Binding technique)**__, _restraining the Kyuubi and allowing for the Sarutobi and Uchiha clan to begin their assault on the monstrous bijuu.

Battalions of clansmen began weaving signs for their fire-techniques. All at once a blaze so intense it would turn rock into molten lava struck the Kyuubi. At the same moment the Sandaime began his assault hitting the Kyuubi with his staff in the weaker joint areas forcing it to the ground as the Akimichi clans men began to enlarge their bodies through use of the _**Baika no Jutsu(Super Multi-Size Technique) **_to restrain the Kyuubi once the fire techniques ended. All at once the Akimichi's brought their hands down upon the back and it seemed that the beast was contained for the moment.

What they did not realize was that this only served to anger the Kyuubi even more. With a mighty roar and a flash of chakra he broke loose of the Nara shadow-bind and seared the appendages of the Akimichi that restrained him. Looking upon the platoons of shinobi a grin appeared on the Kyuubi's face. He delighted in the chaos, the wanton destruction and fear that was wrought by his mere presence. In that moment he titled his head back and let loose a blood curdling howl as he began gathering what seemed to be a combination of red youki(demonic chakra) and blue chakra(spiritual and physical energy) in his maw. As the chakra coalesced it began to grow larger and larger as the combination of demonic chakra and spiritual charka merged into a purple sphere, a panic spread throughout the ranks of Konoha Shinobi. Many took off without warning, the amount of evil chakra and malice permeating the air was enough to kill some of the weaker shinobi. Others just stood in fear and awe as they watched the massive beast clamp his jaws shut over the condensed sphere of energy. With a mighty roar, the Kyuubi launched the sphere towards the stone-faced monument made for the current and previous Hokage, where there faces were carved into the stone.

In that moment, a flash of yellow appeared a top the stone face of the Yondaime Hokage. Minato Namikaze, Konoha's Kiroi no Senko(Konoha's Yellow Flash) and 4th Hokage had arrived. At his arrival he instantly began a series of complex seals at lightning fast speeds.

"I will protect this village, even at the cost of my life," shouted the Namikaze as series of black kanji appeared in front of the monument.

"_**Hiraishin Kekkai! (Flying Thunder God Barrier)**_" shouted the Yondaime

In that moment the sphere of malignant energy was instantly teleported to a location several miles away from the village. The explosion shook the very foundation of the village, but it was safe for the moment.

Grabbing one of his signature tri-pronged kunai, Minato Namikaze launched it above the head of the Kyuubi and appeared in an instant about 30 feet above the massive beast. The instant he appeared he bit his thumb and began going through another set of seals.

"_**Kuchiyose no Jutsu**_!" shouted the Namikaze. In a puff of smoke appeared on of the largest toads ever seen in Konoha. His name was Gamabunta, the chain smoking chief toad.

"Eh, Minato why have you summoned me?" grumbled the toad chieftain

"I need you to restrain the Kyuubi while I prepare to transport the beast out of the village. I will need a few seconds to gather the necessary chakra, "responded the Hokage.

"The Kyuubi?! Who do you think I am gaki!" grumbled the toad as he crashed down on the head of the Kyuubi, eliciting an ear-splitting roar from the Kitsune. "Fine, I've always wanted a fur coat."

"Arrigato Gamabunta-sama," replied the Kage as he finished the seals and began channeling the necessary chakra.

Just as the monster began to gather his chakra for another blast the Yondaime finished the preparation necessary.

"_**Hiraishin**_!" shouted the Namikaze, instantly teleporting them miles away from the village to a safe house where inside were none other than his newborn son and his wife, Uzumaki Kushina.

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><p>In that moment Uzumaki Kushina stepped outside, red-hair billowing in the wind, a despairing look etched upon her face. There was only one way they would be able to restrain the Kyuubi now that he was released from her seal.<p>

Jinchuuriki. The power of human sacrifice and it couldn't be her.

After having the Kyuubi ripped out of her body by the strange masked man, it would be impossible to use her as the host of the Kyuubi once again. Despite being a Uzumaki the strain of childbirth and the extraction of the Kyuubi left her on the verge of death. The only thing keeping her standing was the thought of protecting her son, Namikaze Naruto.

"Kushina! Get back inside I will handle this I need to begin the sealing immediately while I still can! You must survive and be there for our son. I will use the _**Shiki Fujin (Reaper Death Seal)**_ and seal the Kyuubi within him," explained Minato with a grim look of determination. The _**Shiki Fujin**_ was a kinjutsu, or forbidden technique that took the soul of the caster and target within the Shinigami where they would suffer for all eternity. Minato would sacrifice anything to give his wife and child a safer future. He would no long be able to keep his promise of world peace to his sensei, maybe he wasn't the child of prophecy, but it didn't matter. He would protect his precious people with his last breath.

Seeing the look in her husband's eyes, she knew what she had to do. She could slowly feel her life-force fading as she looked upon the mighty beast and in that moment realized that if Minato gave his life sealing this monster; their child would end up an orphan regardless. With a breath she readied her special chakra chains to restrain the beast.

"I'm sorry Minato, but I can't allow you to seal this beast within my son," Kushina said with a determined look in her eyes, "That burden is mine… If anyone will seal the beast it will be me."

"Kushina we don't have time to…" Minato was interrupted as one of Kushina's chakra chains enveloped him and tied him down to a tree, in that same moment the rest of her chains tied down the Kyuubi with Gamabunta still sitting atop him. Once tied down, Gamabunta, deeming the situation handled, dispersed with a grim nod of approval to Kushina.

To his horror the Yondaime began to watch the woman of his dreams, his wife, his lover, the mother of his son, began ritualistic suicide as she started the seals for the Shiki Fujin.

"I'm sorry Minato-kun," sighed Kushina, "It seems that you'll get to watch Naruto grow into a fine young man, make sure he eats his veggies, makes lots and lots of friends. Oh, and Minato keep him away from Jiraiya dattebane." With a smile she finished the seals with a cough and drew the Kyuubi's yin chakra out of his body and into the seal on her stomach created by the _**Shiki Fujin**_. She then transferred the yang half of the chakra into the squalling blue-eyed blonde haired, baby boy on the ground next to her.

"Grow up and be strong Naruto-kun, know that I will always love you 'ttebane," and with those final words Uzumaki Kushina took her last breath.

"Kushina!" cried Minato, and in that moment the chains binding him to the tree were released. In a flash of yellow he was by her side, tears streaming down his face as he picked up his now deceased wife, stroking her beautiful fire-red hair. Gone was the kindred spirit that was the red-hot habanero, never again would he hear her sweet melodious laugh and worst of all, he couldn't keep his promise to protect his precious people.

"I promise Naruto will grow up to be strong. The strongest shinobi this village has ever seen." The Yondaime said with a determined look in his eyes. In that moment something changed, the man who once wore his heart on his shoulder was no more. In his place stood a cold calculating man, not unlike the Nidaime Hokage, Senju Tobirama. He would not allow for another incident like this to occur, he could not lose another of his precious people. Naruto will be trained correctly and he will not fail like his father did today.

Minato stood wiping the tears from his eyes as he looked behind him he noticed the Sandaime arriving with a squad of ANBU. In that moment he began formulating the plans necessary in order to protect Naruto. He would conceal his identity, and eliminate any relation to Minato for his protection. Only those who knew his true relationship with Kushina would know who this boy was. Before anyone could take notice of the baby in Minato's arms, he began to draw a seal upon the back of Naruto's neck. This seal would change his hair color from blonde to red, in order to conceal his relationship to the boy.

He would continue the façade he and Kushina created for the village years before and would take custody of his "best-friends" son. The boy's father would officially be "Uzumaki Arashi," to everyone who didn't know his true heritage.

Everyone knew that Minato and Kushina dated for a while, but after a time it was said they "drifted" apart.

This was all a ploy to keep Kushina safe from Minato's enemies. Once he proposed and they agreed to start their family he adopted the alias "Arashi" and would use a _**Henge (Transformation).**_ Through the henge he would transform into an imposing man standing at 6'4", with red-hair and a scarred face, who would pose as Kushina's new boyfriend/lover.

Meanwhile Minato would create a shadow-clone to be seen with them every once in a while. This served to draw any suspicious thoughts from nosy villagers about any possible affairs between the Hokage and his once lover.

Only Kakashi knew of the arrangement, as the boy had gone through too many hardships to be denied the comfort of their family. He became almost like a son to Minato and he couldn't bear to withhold the knowledge that he would son have an otouto,a little brother.

Hiruzen arrived just as Minato stood and turned, with a small bundle cradled in his arms. A tuft of red hair could be seen from within the blanket, and with that he let loose a sigh of relief. Thank kami the boy had lived. Hiruzen's eyes scanned the field and took notice of the peaceful look on Kushina's face and noticed she was no longer breathing. His breath hitched upon closer inspection when he saw a familiar seal on her stomach. She had sacrificed her life to stop the Kyuubi. He slowly approached Minato and spoke,

"I'm so sorry for your loss Minato, I know you and Kushina were extremely close, I wish it didn't have to come to this."

Minato leveled his gaze with the Hokage and in that moment Hiruzen realized that something had died within Minato, losing his best friend must have taken a larger toll on the boy than he thought. He quickly decided to change the subject and deal with the situation at a more appropriate he was about to speak Minato spoke,

"Her son," was all that Minato managed to croak out.

With those words Hiruzen took a closer look at the small bundle within Minato's arms. His eyes narrowed when he noticed the seal on the boy's stomach and 6 prominent whisker marks on his cheeks, 3 on each cheek.

'So, Kushina used her own son as the next vessel for the Kyuubi,' thought the Sandaime. 'What a burden to be placed upon such a young child.'

The Sandaime was broken from his thoughts when Minato spoke with conviction,

"The boy will be living with me, I will help continue the Uzumaki Legacy through this boy, Uzumaki Naruto. Hiruzen gather the council, we have much to discuss."

With that Minato disappeared in a yellow flash, leaving the former Kage and the ANBU guards to wonder just what was in store for the future of Konohagakure no Sato.

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	2. Prologue II: Council Decisions

**Chapter 2 hot off the presses! **

**I realized that I didn't really change much in the first chapter so there wasn't much to review. Honestly I wanted to give you all a feel for my writing style and a solid background to the changes that I have made for this I guess now AU story. **

**You'll also notice that I have what seem to be some OC's rest assured that any OC's that appear in my story will be in canon fodder roles, there will most likely be no OC that has major ramifications to my story. I thought I'd write this now since I know some folks dislike OC's in their stories. Some of the council members are actual Narutoverse characters that won't be making appearances in my story and so I decided to recycle them into a new role. I guess you could call them OC's.**

**I still don't have a beta so everything you see here is reviewed and edited by myself.**

**Without further ado enjoy Part 2 of my prologue**

**Disclaimer: Unfortunately I do not own Naruto or any of the Narutoverse characters. If I did the first real fight in Naruto wouldn't have AN ELITE JOUNIN/ANBU BADASS WHO COULD SPAM RAIKIRI AS A TEENAGER PASSING OUT AFTER 3 JUTSU. /end rant Enjoy ^.^**

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><p>The council chambers were located underneath the Hokage tower right in front of the ANBU headquarters. This was deemed one of the safest locations and one of the most easily defensible positions in the entire village. Underneath the village ran a series of tunnels used by the ANBU regimen daily, in order to secure the village and allow for the protection of their citizens. There were about 25 different escape routes within the council room alone, allowing each council member an alternative route of escape and securing the hierarchy of the village command. Within these series of tunnels were also the evacuation routes for the civilian citizens. These routes where shallower than the ANBU tunnels, but had hidden passages leading towards the ANBU command to allow for immediate response to compromised evacuation sectors.<p>

Within the council room itself were two maps. One was a rectangular map of the Elemental nations designed into the floor, which allowed for 10 cushions to be arranged around the left and right of the map. 2 cushions were also placed at what could be called the back of the map. On each cushion was the symbol of the clan to which the council seat belonged.

On the left of the table sat:

The Hyuuga Clan Head, Hyuuga Hiashi, leader of Konoha's Sentry division

The Aburame Clan Head, Aburame Shibi, leader of Konoha's Cryptanalysis Division

The Inuzuka Clan Head, Inuzuka Kudomaru, leader of Konoha's Hunter-Nin

The Kurama Clan Head, Kurama Murakumo, leader of Konoha's Research Division

The ANBU commander, identity unknown, leader of Konoha's ANBU Division

On the right of the table sat:

The Uchiha Clan Head, Uchiha Fugaku, leader of Konoha's Police Force

The Sarutobi Clan Head, Sarutobi Sasuke, leader of Konoha's Barrier Division.

The Nara Clan Head, Nara Shikaku, Jounin Commander of Konoha's forces and head strategist.

The Yamanaka Clan Head, Yamanaka Inoichi, leader of Konoha's Torture and Interrogation Division

The Akimichi Clan Head, Akimichi Chouza, leader of Konoha's Food and Drug Division

The two cushions placed at the back of the map were ceremonial cushions placed for the Senju clan head and an Uzumaki representative promised from the original treaty before the destruction of Uzushiogakure.

To the right of the map of the Elemental Nations was a second map, this one was a smaller, circular map containing the village of Konoha with each district highlighted and divided into sectors, each sector with one entrance within a 15 foot wall littered with seals that prevent chakra clinging. Each wall had its own gate which would only be closed during an attack on the village. The only gate that regularly opens and closes is the main gate at the main wall.

Sector 1 is the furthest sector from the Main gate and the most secure. This sector houses the Hokage Mansion, the Senju clan compound and an honorary Uzumaki clan compound, the Hokage Tower and the Hospital.

Sector 2 is where the more luxurious amenities could be found along with several of the prominent merchant homes. This sector houses the Hot Springs for Konohagakure as well as the Hyuuga compound to the North, the Uchiha Compound to the South and the Sarutobi compound in the center. The road forks around the Sarutboi compound leading to two different choke points that can be easily defended.

Sector 3 is where you will find the Minor Clan compounds of the Nara, Yamanaka, Aburame, Inuzuka, Kurama, and the Akimichi. Here is also where you will find most of the civilian population as well as Konohas Ninja Academy and Civilian Academy.

Sector 4 is the Trading and Merchant district. This is where most of Konoha's commerce occurs and where you'll find most of the peddlers that generate Konoha's revenue. This is also where you will find the Chunin Exams arena and the red-light district. In south corner of this district are also where the slums can be found along with the seedy underground that can accompanies most major villages.

Sitting around this map were 6 civilian council members, each council members chosen to represent the civilian population, and one member from the Fire Daimyo's court to ensure that every council decision made was for the betterment of the Land of Fire and not just for the betterment of Konohagakure. On this civilian council was:

The leader of Konoha's merchant guild Gensui Amagiri

The leader of Konoha's weapons guild Higarashi Muramasa

The leader of Konoha's transportation guild Gozu Ginji

The leader of the Land of Fire's samurai forces Kubisaki Koza

The representative of the citizens of Konoha Kizashi Haruno

The Fire daimyo's council representative Yamato Kuroda

At the head of the entire council room were 5 chairs, the middle chair was the largest of the 5 denoting a superiority above the rest.

From left to right the seats were occupied by the Hokage's personal advisors,

Shimura Danzo, leader of the ANBU Root division

Sarutobi Hiruzen, Sandaime Hokage

The center chair, currently empty, normally occupied by the current Hokage

Utatane Koharu, former teammate of the Sandaime,

Mitokado Homura, former teammate of the Sandaime

Together they rounded out the rest of the council, a total of 21 members on the Konoha Council. Each council member has 1 vote towards any village decision and a majority of over 50% is required to pass any law or decision. The deciding vote shall be made by the Hokage should the council be split on any decision.

With the council called to order, everyone waited with hushed tones for their Hokage to arrive and being the proceedings. Groups of council members were speaking quietly to one another about the ramifications of the Kyuubi attack and what actions must be taken by the village in order to recuperate their strength. As the noise of the conversations began to increase in volume the door to the council chambers opened and the Yondaime Hokage strode silently into the room.

The door closed quietly behind the Yondaime, his eyes cold and focused, his mind still calculating all the necessary steps to ensure the survival of his village, but more importantly the survival of his son.

With the entrance of the Hokage the council members became silent, the tension in the room thick enough to cut it with a knife.

Many of the shinobi council members noticed a change in their Hokage's demeanor. Gone was the normal warmth of the Yondaime, everyone could see it in his eyes. There was no sparkle of humor, none of the usual playfulness associated with the living legend.

A few seconds later the Yondaime arrived at his council chair, instantly flanked by two of his most loyal ANBU, Inu and Yamato.

Taking his seat he looked out upon his council members, eyes slightly narrowing as he passed by the Uchiha clan head, an action that went unnoticed by all, except Shimura Danzo.

_'I need to find a way to use this to my advantage,'_ thought Danzo.

During this time the mind of Inu was racing mile a minute.

_Something's wrong with sensei. I haven't seen him like this since…Obito. Did something happen to Kushina-sensei? What about my otouto is he okay? _His thoughts were interrupted when a civilian council member spoke, obviously impatient and wanting answers as to what happened tonight.

"Yondaime-sama, what happened today? Where did the Kyuubi come from? Where did the Kyuubi go? Is it gone for good or will it come back?" fervently said Gensui Amagiri, his voice gaining confidence, conviction and volume as he spoke. "My merchants are terrified and are threatening to take their business elsewhere we cannot allow an incident like this to happen again!" A murmur of agreement coming from a few of a the civilian council members, while the shinobi members stayed silent. There was truth to their words they thought as they solemnly looked up at their leader waiting for a response.

Taking a deep breath Minato began,

"Today was an attack on our village by a man possessing a Sharingan." At this council gasped throwing glances at Fugaku who sat stoicly watching the Hokage. seeing no visible reaction from Fugaku Minato continued.

"He claimed to be Uchiha Madara and possessed a space-time ninjutsu not unlike my own. He was also quite skilled in fuinjutsu. He was able to extract the Kyuubi from Uzumaki Kushina..." at this point there were murmus amongst the council, what did he mean by extract from Kushina? Was she a jinchuuriki without their knowledge? "...and summon him into the middle of our village, controlling his actions through a genjutsu," continued Minato. "As for when it'll come back… it won't. Kushina gave her life to seal the Kyuubi within her own son, Uzumaki Naruto. She created a martyr out her own son for the sake of this village."He stopped giving the council members a moment to let this sink in. His voiced hitched when he spoke about his wife's death, not that anyone would connect the dots.

'Kushina sensei is dead?' thought the young ANBU. At the 13 years old he had to many loved ones pass away. His thoughts were becoming darker and darker. Until he remembered Naruto, quickly steeling his resolve his eyes hardened. _'My otouto is still alive and I will protect him with my last breath. I will not stand defenseless and allow another of my family members die.'_ With that final conviction of duty he focused back on the council.

Several members let out a shocked gasp looking up at their leader hoping it was some kind of joke. Kushina was one of their strongest kunoichi, second only to Sennju Tsunade. The loss of an S-rank shinobi is a huge blow to their military, one that the enemy will be sure to take advantage of.

One council member could only mutter a single word about the whole situation,

_'Troublesome'_

The shock of the revelation masked behind his calculative eyes as he realized all the signs were evident of her jinchuuriki status once he pieced them all together. He just couldn't imagine that one of his closest friends contained the strongest of the nine bijuu within her the entire time.

'_Heh, it explains why that woman was so troublesome_,' thought Shikaku with a grim smile.

The civilian council was far more worried about the ramifications of the demon being within a baby. What if the demon was released again, what if he began to control the boy. No it had to be stopped, this was their chance to finally rid themselves of the beast.

"What are we waiting for? Where's the boy, we will kill him and get rid of the Kyuubi once and for all. Let Kushina's sacrifice not be in vain! That boy is no longer her son but a demon incarnate!" shouted Ginji, a murmur of agreements coming from the civilian council.

As soon as the words left his mouth the temperature of the room dropped several degrees and the strongest killing intent was unleashed on the man sitting at the head of the council room. Normally this amount of Killing Intent would put most civilians in a comatose state, being on the council these civilians, while still unnerved, had learn to deal with the killing intent released by shinobi, not that it did them much good.

If looks could kill Ginji would have dropped dead the moment he looked into the Yondaime's eyes. They promised nothing but pain if this child was harmed.

"No one will touch the boy," said the Namikaze with an icy steel to his voice, "He will live with me and be trained to be a proper shinobi of this Village. I will not let everything Kushina's sacrificed herself for be destroyed by idiots who don't know the difference between a kunai and a scroll. Do you understand me?" With those final words he sent a concentrated blast of killing intent towards the portly man, almost rendering him unconscious.

"H-Hai Hokage-sama," answered a profusely sweating Ginji. He would not openly dare to defy the Yondaime, but the matter still had to be put up to vote.

At this Danzo spoke up,

"Are you so sure it is in the village's best interest that you take care of the boy, Minato? He would be much better off being trained by me to become a ROOT shinobi. A weapon like him should not be wasted. I motion that you, our council, allow me to train him to be an asset to this village, lest he be used by this 'third party' against our village once more. "

Some of the shinobi council members seemed to be placated by this proposal. If anyone could train a perfect weapon for the village it was Danzo. Just as Ginji was about to second the motion, Minato intervened

"No, the boy will stay with me. Unless you've been hiding a Class 9 seal master from me in your organization, then no one other than myself or Jiraiya-sensei is capable of dealing with the boy's seal. I make this promise to you now, I shall personally tighten the boy's seal every year on this very night to ensure the safety of this village,"said Minato. Quickly mastering his anger, he collected his thoughts. "I motion to allow the boy sanctuary in my home. Allow me to mold this young boy into a shinobi worthy of being proud of. Worthy of being called a Konoha Shinobi."

Looking out into the room he seemed to have won over some of his subordinates with this decision.

"Who will stand by my decision."

At this moment Shikaku saw the opportunity to put this issue to rest by standing by the man he trusted most. Not the Yondaime Hokage, or the Yellow Flash, but by Namikaze Minato, his best friend and the best man he knew.

He quickly stood before anyone could refute the decision and spoke,

"The Nara second this motion, and accept the Yondaime's proposal, are we in agreement?"

One by one each council member stood and cast their vote for the proposal,

"The Hyuuga Clan Accepts"

"The Inuzuka Clan Accepts"

"The Aburame Clan Declines"

"The Kurama Clan Declines"

"The ANBU Accept"

"The Uchiha Clan Declines"

"The Sarutobi Clan Accepts"

"The Yamanaka Clan Accepts"

"The Akimichi Clan Accepts"

"The Merchant Guild Declines'

"The Weapons Guild Accepts"

"The Transporation Guild Declines"

"The Fire Lord's Samurai Accept"

"The Daimyo Accepts"

"The Civilians Decline"

"ROOT Declines"

"The Sandaime Accepts"

"The Advisors Decline"

With the votes tallied it was 11 in favor of the Yondaime's proposal, and 9 against, there would be no need for a tie-breaking vote from the Hokage. Pleased with the results so far Minato switched from protective father back to administrative Kage. There was much work to be done. Construction contracts needed to be written, funeral services prepared, and shinobi to recall.

* * *

><p>Hokage Manor<p>

Minato had just arrived home from an extremely long day. He reached into his refrigerator and began pulling out the ingredients for a sandwich, disliking the fact that he now had to make his own sandwiches, honestly what man makes his own sandwich! With this thought he was sadly reminded of the the events that occured earlier in the day.

From fighting a bijuu to losing his beloved wife, and finally protecting his son from the very village his wife gave her life to protect. It was long heart wrenching day. Enough to make any sane man wallow in self loathing and go crazy.

Unfortunately, or , one could say fortunately, Minato wasn't a sane man by any means.

He had killed thousands upon the bloody plains and lost hundreds of comrades as well, but he wouldn't hesitate to do so again in the name of the village.

There was one death that had taken the largest toll on him and that was the death of his young student Uchiha Obito. That incident was now second only to the pain of losing his wife, but the pain was no less powerful. It was what he surmised to be similar to the pain of losing a son, a pain he hoped he never had to endure.

Of course the circumstances were different back then. He had a clear target to focus his rage, his bloodlust, his sorrow. That day on the bloody plains Iwa learned what happened when you angered Konoha's Yellow Flash...

Now there was no objective, no end-game. There was no target for his hatred, for his pain other than the mysterious masked man claiming to be 'Uchiha Madara'. With a growl unbecoming of his status, he vowed to make that man pay for what he did to his family. Until then he would bottle up that pain, that hatred and use it to fuel...

'W_ait, no. This is the wrong way to think, this is the Uchiha way_,' thought Minato with a scowl, taking out his frustrations of the sandwich with his knife, destroying the sandwich in the proccess. '_Damn, now I have to make another._'

_'I have to let go of all this rage, all of this pain. I cannot allow myself to walk down the path of hatred. I must think of whats best for the village, and more importantly Naruto-kun.' _ The thought of his son enough to make the young kage calm down.

_'No, I guess there are no sane shinobi_,' thought Minato with a slight sigh, as he replayed his thoughts. 'W_e left our sanity behind the day they we put on our hitaite's.'_

The only comfort he could take in this realization was that he did not enjoy taking a life. Whatever shred of humanity that represented, he clung to like a life-line, for himself and for his loved ones.

Once he finished preparing his sandwich, he was slightly disappointed in the taste of the food. '_Not as good as Kushina-chan's_, _but I can live,_' thought Minato as he slowly walked towards Naruto's room.

He slightly opened the door taking a peak inside the room. It was completely furnished with all the baby essentials. Instead of the blue one would normally see for a newborn boy, the room was decorated completely in orange at Kushina's insistence. She would not have her son in anything less. Orange after all was the best color in the world. Minato smiled at the memory, trying to ignore the pain that shot through his heart.

Naruto seemed to stir as Minato approached the side of the crib, sensing the presence of a familiar figure. With a fatherly smile, Minato bent over and picked the red-headed boy up, cradling him in his arms.

"Hello little Naru-chan, its your Tou-san. We can't tell anyone, but that doesn't matter you'll also be my little boy, I will stop at nothing to protect you," the sleepy, confused look on his sons face was enough to make him grin form ear to ear( and make any female within viewing distance squeal with delight and shout KAWAAAIIII!). This precious moment wiped away all of the troubles that plagued Minato.

In that moment it was just father and son, nothing else existed in their quiet bubble of joy.

* * *

><p>Uchiha Compound<p>

Within the main house was a man pacing within his study, this man was none other than Uchiha Fugaku, head of the Uchiha clan. The normally stoic, emotionless clan head allowed a brief glimpse of anger to cross his face.

'_Those bastards on the council, nothing I do will gain their trust. Now they will suspect the Uchiha clan for this incident and further limit our power_,' thought Fugaku pacing back and forth, at this pace he'd burn a hole in the floor. '_Damn it! Damn them how could they do this to the Uchiha clan, we founded this god forsaken Village! If only he could control that Kyuubi boy, then maybe he would have enough power to make those bastards on the council see that the Uchiha were not to be trifled with_.'

With this final thought he walked over to his private liquor cabinet and poured himself a cup of sake. He began to replay the events of the council, he could still feel the gaze of each and every member on the back of his neck as if he were once again in their presence. He never once belittled himself to look at the other clan heads. Though, he could especially feel the gaze of the Hyuuga. Oh how he must have relished the position Fugaku found himself in. He would not give them the satisfaction though, leaving his focus solely on the Yondaime gauging his reaction, and ignoring the rest of the council.

He thought he was so smart, hiding his glares,but Fugaku knew_. _He saw the ice cold glare that was sent in his direction when he sat down on his 'throne.' If he were speaking he would have spit the word out. He would not stand for this insult to his clan!

With the image of the Hokage's glare in his mind he shivered, remembering the cold aura that the Hokage had given off today. He surely was a force to be reckoned with and currently none of his shinobi were at the Hokage's level.

That didn't mean that there couldn't be... His thoughts quickly drifted towards Itachi and his cousing Shisui. The boys were geniuses. Even at the age of 7 he could tell the amount of potential the boys held. It was potential that hadn't been seen within the Uchiha clan since Kagami, Shisui's grandfather.

Unfortuantely their minds were already being poisoned by the Hokage's meddling. It seemed he also realized the potential the boys held. They absorbed every word about placing the village before anything else. Lies. That's all they were being fed. The clan is before anything else. The Uchiha are the elite, and as such nothing comes before the clan, not the village, not even the Hokage.

But how was the question. Who could turn the boy into the perfect weapon to be used against the Yondaime and the Kyuubi brat...

Sitting there his thoughts wandered back to the council meeting and what a waste of time it was. Spindless, at the beck and call of the Hokage like lapdogs every last one of them... well, all except the elders...

With that final thought his eyes widened in realization. There was only one man within Konoha that could create the weapons Fugaku seeked.

Shimura Danzo...

He entertained the thought. Of course he didn't need to know the real purpose, he was just a means to an end. Fugaku would ensure that they weren't brainwashed into becoming blindly obedient Konoha lapdogs. He of course was no fool. He knew what ROOT was and would take the right measures to ensure that his investments remained on the right side when the time came to unleash his assets upon Konoha.

He would have to have a meeting with Danzo soon, there would be no time to waste.

Fugaku seemed to delight in these thoughts, finally easing his mind of his present troubles. Finishing the rest of his drink he threw the finished bottle into the trash and walked out of his study towards his bedroom.

_'Yes, Konoha will soon find out what happens when you slight the Uchiha Clan,' _thought Fugaku as he slowly closed the door to his study, locking with a slight click behind him.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Read n Review let me know what you guys think in what I guess you could call the first "official" chapter of Prodigal Brothers. **

**Check out my Profile Page if you're interested in a brief outline and the details to the ranking system I'll be using throughout my Fan-Fic for my Bingo Books. **


	3. Prologue III:Family Heritage

**3rd chapter has finally arrived. Took me a bit longer than my other two I apologize, but it is definitely a lot longer. Just around 8000 words and about 4 edits.**

**This chapter should reveal just a tiny smidge of what I want to do with my fanfiction.**

**Finally, I just wanted to say thank you to all of you who favorited, followed and reviewed. Every time I get a notification it gives me a sense of gratitude and accomplishment****(I know I'm pathetic, but hey something is better than nothing amirite?!) **

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**Thanks for the support, enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any characters of the Narutoverse, if I did Naruto would be the son of a Senju. Easy fix, Minato is a Senju. BOOM! Plot holes fixed. Honestly how can he be Asura's reincarnation if hes an Uzumaki with no Senjua blood! Kishi completely pulled that out of his ass with no explanation. The only plausible explanation is that Kushina is like the great, great grandaughter of Mito, which was never stated or hinted at in canon.**

* * *

><p>(4 years later)<p>

During the first two years the village of Konoha was slowly regaining its strength after the Kyuubi incident. The day following the attack Minato recalled all Konoha shinobi within in the border of **Hi no Kuni(The Land of Fire)** and increasing border foreign missions were put on hold as the village was being rebuilt.

Most of the damage occured to Sectors 3 and 4 concentrating most of the damage around the Trading and Merchant District and the Civilian Residency quarter, with minor damage occuring near the slums and red-light districts.

With the attack the Sarutobi and Kurama clan saw some of the more devastating losses each losing around 50 jounin and chunin level shinobi. Some believed that these were insignificant loses compared to the loses of regular forces, which totaled near the 400's, but with some of the major and minor clans shrinking in population, this was a huge loss to both clans respectively. Konoha also lost around 3000 civilian citizens to the beast in the residency quarters before they could be evacuated.

During the 3rd year, just as Konoha finished its reconstruction, the Hokage determined that much of its new strength would come from their ninja academy. As such the Yondaime implemented a new educational reform within the Ninja Academy.

The times of peace were slowly being whittled away and the young boys and girls attending the academy needed to be properly trained. Minato appointed the Sandaime Hokage to be in charge of the new Academic policy which required every aspiring genin shinobi to go through all 4 years of study at the the younger children attending the civilian academy until the age of 8, where, with permission, they could apply to attend the Shinobi Academy.

These past 4 years also served the Yondaime well, with the help of Jiraiya he had finally made progress within his sage training and was currently able to fuse with both elders with only slight alterations to his physique.

Through this progress came the creation of another supplementary S-Rank technique, the **Senpo: Kankaku no Hiraishin Kekkai( Sage Art: Sensory of the Hiraishin Barrier). **This technique used specialized seals designed to absorb ambient nature chakra and turn it into a sensory barrier that allowed Minato the ability to sense foreign chakra within the confines of the barrier by absorbing sage chakra.

This barrier had a radius of 5 miles and was placed within the center point of the entire village, the Sarutobi Compound. Using an Octagonal sealing array and various anchors at the cardinal points, this barrier allowed every Konoha shinobi to register his/her chakra with the barrier. This allowed Minato full awareness of foreign chakra's and giving him the power to immediately respond to any threat within the Village. The barrier was maintained by Konoha's Barrier Division led by Sarutobi Sasuke, and allowed the Barrier Division shinobi the ability to sense anyone attempting to sneak into the village.

After everything the Yondaime truly was the hero of his village. He was admired by the villagers and feared by all his enemies. To this day nobody had yet to get the better of the young kage. No one except...

* * *

><p><strong>(Hokage Manor)<strong>

"NARUTO!"

Minato didn't know how or why, It must have been something he inherited from his mother, but the young red head had a knack for chaos. Somehow he had found his way into Minato's weapon cache and stolen one of his kunai. He had been runnig around the house for the last 10 minutes 'killing' all the furniture in the house.

He was currently hiding behind the curtains near the windowsill in the living room of the Hokage Mansion. He quietly snickered at the thought of the blonde Kage running around the house looking for him

_'He'll never find me here, this is my new ultimate hiding spot!'_ thought the boy with a snicker.

"Naruto give me that kunai back this instant before I dye Gama-chan pink!" shouted the annoyed blonde Kage as he walked towards the living room.

If there was anything that would make the boy break it would be his beloved Gama-chan, an orange frog plushy that his mother had purchased before the incident.

Upon hearing Minato's words Naruto paled.

_'No not Gama-chan!'_ he despaired, as he began to slowly pull the cutains back.

Thinking back on his plan he stopped.

_'I can't quit! With this new prank I'll beat the hokage and be recognized as the strongest in the village! Then I'll buy 100 Gama-chans!' _

Tightening his grip on the kunai he went over the plan, giggling quietly at the thought of finally succeeding in one of his pranks.

Walking into the living room Minato noticed a bulge coming from the curtains. Taking a few steps forward he realized it was quiet. Too quiet.

The normally hyperactive boy must have something planned. Cautiously taking steps forward Minato reviewed the room. There were no wires on the floor, no surprises hidden on the roof. What was he planning? At that moment he heard a giggle from the curtains, momentarily breaking his thoughts and distracting him as he passed by the couch, failing to notice the strategically placed wagon toy in the shadows.

As his foot came down on the toy, his foot slipped backwards, making Minato fall forwards towards the curtains, stabilizing himself with a hand on the wall. In that moment Naruto chose to attack, bringing his kunai down towards the nape of the Hokage and holding it there with both hands.

"Gotcha!" shouted the red-head in glee.

A smirk crossed the blonde kage's face as he poofed into white smoke, a look of confusion crossing the young boys face as his uncle disappeared.

In the confusion, the real Yondaime dropped from the ceiling onto the unsuspecting boy, bonking him lightly on the head. Within seconds the boy was neatly tucked under his arms as he lead the boy towards the bathroom.

"Ne, ne thats unfair oji-san," huffed Naruto, annoyed at being bested once more.

He wasn't really his uncle, but then again he wasn't his dad either, he had seen a picture of his mom and dad, but then again what else should he call the man that was raising him?

"You cheated!"

"Nothing's fair in the shinobi world Naru-chan," chided a smirking Minato, the boy had potential, but he was still to young.

"Besides, now that I've got you its bath time."

The look of horror that crossed the boys face was priceless. Thinking back to all the destroyed furniture this more than made up for it. With a grin he plopped Naruto onto the bathroom floor and began preparing the bath

Once released, he made a break for the door, this time only making it a few feet before Minato flashed in front of the boy, quickly closing the door behind him.

"You're not getting away that easily," With a light smack on the boy's forehead the Yondaime applied a paralysis seal.

"There that will make things a lot easier," he said with a bemused grin.

Unfortunately, this paralysis seal didn't stop the boy from speaking.

"Bu... but whyyy," whined the indignant red head.

"There's no point in taking a shower if I'm just gunna get dirty again. Ne, ne you know its true."

"Now, now Naruto its almost your bed time you don't want to go to sleep all sticky and nasty, that's just bad hygiene," chided the Namikaze.

Naruto just looked at him with a blank stare. Why did he always try to confuse him with big words. Conceding defeat at the hands of the better opponent Naruto quickly conceded.

"Now I'm going to take the seal off and you're going to take your bath like a good boy, okay?"

"Okay," sighed a resigned Naruto, he did lose fair and square.

* * *

><p>With that the night proceeded with no more commotions, Minato made dinner, ramen of course. He had a white apron tied to his waist, while Naruto played with some toad toys at the table. Placing the steaming bowls of ramen on the table, they both began to eat with a quiet chorus of "Itadakimasu."<p>

After a few minutes of silence, Minato turned to the boy and asked,

"Are you excited to start up school Naru-chan? It should be exciting. You get to meet more kids to play with."

Truth be told Naruto was excited at the prospect of meeting new friends, to this day he had only met Shikamaru, Choji and Sauske-teme.

Shiakamaru's dad was his uncles best friend and Choji's dad was part of the original Ino-Shika-Cho trio, so he went wherever Shikamaru went. He met Sasuke-teme because his mom was Naruto's mom's best friend growing up. Naruto had wondered where the 'Ino' part was, but he never asked.

To be honest, Naruto was just afraid because everywhere he went people would always look at him funny.

They looked at him like he was an outsider and nobody else would let their kids play with him whenever he went to the park with Kakashi-niisan. It was almost like they blamed him for something, but he just didn't know what.

Noticing the hesitation in the boy's answer, Minato immediately diagnosed the root of the problem. The Kyuubi. Unfortunately for Naruto, there was little he could do to hide Naruto's Jinchuuriki status.

When he proposed keeping it within the confines of the council chambers, he was immediately shot down. The council stating that assets like the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki must be made public so that they did not seem weak to the other elemental nations.

When put to vote he was over ruled 14 to 6. The only votes he managed to garner were of the original Ino-Shika-Cho members, the Sandaime, and the elders.

Reaching over and ruffling the boy's head, he gave him a fatherly smile.

"Don't worry Naru-chan you'll make lots of friends, I'm sure of it," said the young Kage.

"Besides you'll have Sasuke, Shikamaru, and Choji with you too so you have nothing to worry about right?"

"Right," chirped the red-head, a smile slowly working onto his face.

"Ne, ne are you going to walk me to school tomorrow oji-san?" The hopeful look on the boys face almost breaking his defences.

"Unfortunately Naru-chan, I have a very important meeting tomorrow with some representatives from Kumo," intoned Minato a slight frown marring his face at the thought of Kumo. He didn't forget about the time they tried to capture Kushina to turn her into a jinchuuriki.

Naruto's smile quickly fell,

"Oh."

Minato's heart broke at the look on the boy's face, it pained him to see his son so sad,

"...But, Kakashi-san said he would be more than happy to take you to school."

A slight smile working his way onto the boys face at the thought of seeing his nii-san. "And the meetings shouldn't last very long so I'll be there to pick you up from school okay?" continued Minato.

This caused the largest smile he'd seen to date to appear on the boys face. With a sloppy slurp of his ramen broth he quickly put his bowl down and rushed to his uncle's side.

"I've got to get to bed quick so tomorrow can come faster! Good night oji-san!" With those final words he gave Minato a brothy kiss on the cheek and rushed towards his room to get into bed.

Chuckling at the his antics, Minato finished his meal before taking the bowls over to the sink and beginning to wash the dishes, letting his thoughts consume him.

_'Oh Kushina how I wish you could be here with us today. You would be so proud of you're son,'_ thought Minato as he methodically washed each dish. _'__He's gunna grow up to be a fine man, I promise.' _With this final thought he finished the last of the dishes turned the lights off and walked towards his room, mentally preparing himself for the events of the next day.

* * *

><p><strong>(Hokage Manor)<strong>

The following morning was a rushed one in the Namikaze household. A panicked Minato was hurriedly finishing packing Naruto's lunch making sure everything was perfect. Throwing a glance over his shoulder he noticed Naruto was eating at an inhuman pace.

"Naruto! Slow down before you choke on your eggs," he scorlded.

Meanwhile Naruto sat at the table quickly scarfing down the eggs and rice his uncle had prepared for him. Every so often his eyes would glance to the front door in anticipation. If Kakashi-nii didnt hurry they were going to be late! He turned to hear his uncle say something about choking, but blew it off as unimportant. Behind him the door opened, entering a young Hatake Kakashi

"Yo," said the ever-late teenager. At 17 years old he was on the fast track to becoming one of Konoha's Elite Jounin. He had gravity defying white hair and had his headband covering his left eye. Over his face he had a blue mask. What was under it was as much a mystery to Naruto as was the concept of 'girls'. Turning back to his orange book he let out a perverted giggle.

Hearing the opening of a door, he quickly turned and let out a gasp seeing Kakashi standing in the doorway. Bad timing, as Naruto still had food in his mouth. Choking on his breakfast, he frantically waved his arms around trying to get Kakashi or his uncle's attention.

Minato took one last look at the lunchbox, ensuring everything was in order, he nodded his head in satisfaction.

_'This should do,'_ he thought, slowly turning to see Naruto turning purple frantically waving his arms around.

"Baka, what did I tell you about eating to fast?"

He sighed, walking over to the boy and quickly thumping him on his back two times, allowing the food to go down smoothly. Relief broke across the young Uzumaki's face as he could breathe again.

Turning towards Kakashi, seeing him armed with his usual book Minato let out a sigh. His sensei was slowly corrupting his student, one pervy book at a time.

"I can't slow down, oji-san todays the first day of school!" excitedly explained Naruto.

Turning towards Kakashi he pointed a finger and shouted,

"YOU'RE LATE!"

Minato could only chuckle at his son's antics.

Looking up at the distrubance, Kakashi sighed and closed the book. "I passed by a black cat on my way here. I didn't want to get bad luck so I decided to take the long way around."

At this explanation, both Minato and Naruto deadpanned. Minato was the first to speak,

"You overslept didn't you"

Looking at his sensei he shrugged. Neither denying or confirming his statement Kakashi turned towards Naruto beckoning him forward with his hand.

"Come, come. We don't have all day you know, I have to get back to reading my book," He said with a giggle. "Let's get you to school."

Quickly forgetting his irritation with his older brother figure, Naruto grabbed his lunch from Minato and made his way towards the door. He quickly turned and shouted,

"See you later oji-san!"

"Good luck on your first day Naruto!" replied Minato

Turning to see the empty house, he realized just how quickly time passed by.

Broken from his thoughts by the sound of an alarm he had set to remind him of his meeting with Kumo, he summoned an ANBU, quickly ordering him to clean up the mess.

Putting on his white haori, red flames adorning the bottom and the kanji for 'Fourth' on the back, he quickly disappeared in a flash of yellow, arriving just a few minutes before the meeting was slated to begin.

The ANBU turned to look at the mess left behind. It looked like a bomb had gone off in the kitchen.

The ANBU sweatdropped, _'No one said anything about being the Hokage's maid when I signed up for ANBU'_ he grumbled, as he bent over to pick up the remains of Naruto and the Yondaime's breakfast.

* * *

><p><strong>Streets of Konoha<strong>

Walking down the road Naruto noticed some of the glances the villagers shot in his direction. Confused as to why they still looked at him that way he turned to Kakashi and asked,

"Hey nii-san to you know why all the villagers look at me funny?"

Hearing this Kakashi's eyes narrowed slightly, '_he noticed them already?'_ thought Kakashi. '_How long can we keep this secret from him?'_

Looking around he noticed some of the glares that were sent in his direction. Elevating his killing intent in their direction and shooting them a withering glare, the civilians turned to go about their business.

"You're just imagining things Naruto, it must be the nerves for you first day, lets hurry or we'll be late," he said with a trademarked eye-smile.

At this Naruto shot him a glare, Kakashi clearly oblivious to the irony of the statement.

"Yeah I guess you're right, lets go!"

Once they arrived Naruto took a long look at the Blue Civilian Academy building. The kanji for fire prominently displayed on the front.

With barely contained excitement he thought to himself, '_4 more years until I can get permission to join the Ninja Academy!'_

Looking over at Kakashi he smiled, finally he was on the road to becoming a kick ass shinobi like his nii-san and oji-san.

Kakashi noticed the boys look and gave Naruto an eye-smile before speaking,

"Alright Naruto this is where I leave you, good luck in school alright? If you manage to stay out of trouble I may even take you out for some ramen at Ichiraku's, hows that sound?"

At the mention of Ichiraku's Naruto nodded fervently.

"I promise to be good nii-san, but..." and here a glint of barely contained excitement could be seen in his eyes, "...you have to buy me ALL the ramen I want, deal?" said Naruto.

"Deal," said Kakashi thinking nothing bad could come from it, besides how much ramen could a 4 year old eat anyway?

"Ja ne!"

With those final words Kakashi disappeared in a whirlwind of leaves, leaving the awestruck 4 yeard old standing there .

Naruto turned in search of his other friends. As he walked through the crowds of students he noticed two girls standing in front of one of the classrooms quietly whispering to each other. One girl had short blonde hair that came to her shoulders, while the other girl had short pink hair in a similar style. They seemed to be staring at one of the other boys in the classroom, a little shy to enter the classroom. Taking a look at the number by the door he noticed it was the same number as the one of the piece of paper he had in his hand. With a deep breath he walked up to the girls, and introduced himself,

"Hiya! My name's Naruto, Uzumaki Naruto. Are you guys in this class too?"

Startled by the sudden new voice, the girls turned to look at the boy, taking in his red hair and appearance.

For his first day of school Naruto chose to wear a white clan shirt with an orange Uzumaki whirlpool prominently displayed in the center, blue pants and a green froggy book bag. His red hair stood out among the varying shades of brown and black that could be seen walking behind him.

The blonde girl seemed to be the more confident of the two. She stepped forward upset that he scared them,

"None of your business!" Screeched the blonde.

"Now move you're blocking the view of the pretty boy with the black hair."

A little hurt, at the outburst, he tentaively looked inside, confusion etched on his face. He wanted to see who this 'pretty black haired' fellow was.

When he peeked inside he was greeted by Shikamaru's lazy form sleeping on one of the desks. His pineapple style haircut was difficult to miss even from way over here.

Naruto sweatdropped and turned towards the blonde and her friend with a grin, payback time.

"YOU LIKE SHIKAMARU!" he said, pointing an accusing finger at the rude blonde. " Ahahahahaha, you like Shika, you like Shika." At the sound of a loud shout Shikamaru lifted his face from his desk wondering who distrubed his sleep, next to him Choji quietly munched on his chips.

Checking the doorway he saw his troublesome best friend Naruto, accusing Ino of something, while he danced around with a finger pointed at her.

"Oi, Naruto!" he said lazily. "Leave Ino alone she'll just get more... troublesome." With that he put his head back on the table and went back to sleep.

Ino's face was immediately flushed with anger and embarrassment,

"NO!" she said, hitting the red haired boy over the head. She then pointed over to another black haired boy seated behind Shikamaru. He wore a high collared black shirt and his hair stuck out from the back of his head, reminiscent of a duck's backside.

He looked over, confused by all the commotion, until he spotted Naruto. That baka was always getting into trouble.

"Thats the boy," said Ino with a sigh. "He's soooo cute!"

With those final words Ino and the pink haired girl huddled together and started giggling.

Naruto squinted his eyes at the boy. He looked vaguely familiar...

Stepping into the room to take a closer look Naruto realized who the boy was. Turning to look at the girls he said,

"Ne, ne, what's so special about Sasuke," he said with a confused look. "He can't even go to sleep without his favorite teddy bear, Kuma-chan."

Upon hearing these words, Sasuke's face flushed. He rose angrily from his chair and pointed an accusing finger at Naruto.

"Hey! That's not true," shouted the indignant Uchiha. " It was only one time because you were making creepy noises form under the bed! Besides you can't sleep without Gama-chan and Shika can't sleep without his deer!"

Looking around the room Sauske noticed they were rapidly becoming the center of a attention.

He sat back down with a huff, quickly realizing what Naruto just made him admit. He muttered something about stupid red-heads and revealing top secret, secrets to girls. They didn't even like girls yet!

Upon seeing the outburst the girls in the classroom had stars in their eyes with a shout of,

"Kawaaiii!"

Ino and her pink-haired friend were no different, with hearts in their eyes. He just couldn't get any cutre.

Naruto sweatdropped hoping for a different reaction. Nonetheless, he was pleased with his work. He proudly paraded Gama-chan around town, but he knew Sasuke kept Kuma-chan a secret. He delighted in Sasukes embarrasment, at least until Sasuke-teme started getting even more attention from the girls. With a sigh he went to sit next Shikamaru who had gone back to sleep, not caring that his deer plushie had been revealed to his new classmates.

As she passed Naruto, Ino gave him a withering gaze and stuck her tongue out. Her pink haired friend, who had yet to introduce herself continued walking with her.

The two girls proceeded to take seats on opposite sides of Sasuke stealing glances at his face everyone once in a while.

He looked around the room and noticed there were some weird kids in his class.

Right behind Sasuke,was a kid who had red triangle markings on his face. Next to him was a girl with white eyes. Right next to her was another kid that wore sunglasses and a thick white coat, in the middle of summer!

As he continued to scan the room, he heard the door open and close as a young civilian instructor walked in, making everyone fall silent.

"Good Morning class, welcome to your first day at the Academy! My name is Akame Iwana and during the next four years you'll be learning basic functions like reading, writing and math so you can all be well-rounded individuals. After the 4th year you'll be allowed to take the Ninja Academy exam where you can continue on to become a Shinobi of Konohagakure no Sato. There is no greater honor. For those of you who do not pass this test, you will be moved on through the various trade schools that are offered here at the Civilian academy, where we will ready you for a life outside of school..." and thus began the longest lecture of Naruto's young life.

As the instructor droned on Naruto was lost in his thoughts,

_'Man this was going to be a long day,'_ thought the young red head quickly realizing there was nothing exciting about school._ 'I wonder what oji-san and Kaka-nii are up to right now.'_

* * *

><p><strong>Hokage Tower<strong>

It seemed that both the men of the Namikaze household were having rough mornings.

After listening for 2 hours to the proposal made by Kumo about a possible alliance, he now had to sit and go through mountains of paperwok.

All he needed was a little **K****aton Jutsu(Fire Technique)** and he could finish the paperwork in 2 seconds flat!

Quickly shaking off his pyrotechnic tendencies, he thought back to the meeting. It had gone relatively well, Kumo was not asking for anything extravagant. All they wanted was an increase in trade across their borders and security for foreign missions operating within Hi no Kuni. In return they promised open borders and no hostility towards leaf-nin on foreign missions within **Kaminari no Kuni(Land of Lightning).**

It was an intriguing proposal as it allowed for more revenue to flow through Konoha, but there was something off about the whole thing that he just couldn't put his finger on. Kumo has always been an isolationist, why are they suddenly interested in a new allegiance?

With a slight shake of the head he decided to just leave it for their council meeting later today so they could put it to vote. Kami knows thats all those bastards liked to do anyway. The last time they had a meeting, they spent an hour trying to vote on what kind of lunch they should get.

"I motion for Pizza!"

"I motion for Sushi!

"I motion for Ramen!"

Back and forth for an hour with each member gave a diatribe as to why their food choice was better. It drove him insane!

Putting two fingers on the bridge of his nose and resting his arm on his desk, he was starting to wonder why he even took the hat in the first place, all it brought him was more stress.

In that moment, Minato heard the window open and a deep, gruff voice starting to speak,

"Ehehehe starting to regret the decision of taking the hat Minato?"

Looking over at the window he saw a large, muscular man sitting on the windowsill. He had long white hair that ran down his back, with two strands of hair that framed his face. On his forehead he wore a steel headband with the kanji for oil. There were two long red markings just underneath his eyes that ran all the way down to his jaw-line and he wore a forest green haori over a mesh shirt, with a sleeveless red jacket over top that was opened down the middle. On his back he carried an overly large scroll that was known to Minato as the frog summoning contract.

This man was none other than Jiraiya of the Sannin, one of the most powerful shinobi Konoha had ever produced, and Minato's mentor.

With a slight sigh Minato looked back over to his desk and said,

"No one ever told me there would be this much paper work.I just wanna burn it all to the ground! I mean why do we need mission reports for D-Ranks!I always just saw the Sandaime lazying about and thought, _'man that'd be an awesome job to have'._"

Minato's shoulders slumped over at the thought of reading another Tora the Cat mission report.

With a knowing smirk Jiraiya, a glint of mischief appearing in his eyes,

"Oh? You mean sensei never taught you the secret to paperwork?"

Perking up at this so called secret, Minato looked over to his sensei,

"What do you mean secret to paperwork, there is no shortcut I can't even get my assistant to do it. I always get scolded and told I need to know everything that happens in the village."

With a grin Jiraiya continued, "Ahh but there is a secret. It's how the Sandaime was able to complete my collection of Icha Icha books. But I guess you'll just have to figure it out on your own. Unless..."

He knew he had Minato hooked the minute he mentioned a secret to the mortal enemy of kage. It was almost too easy.

"Ne, unless what?" said Minato, sounding not unlike Naruto when he got excited.

"I'll tell you the secret to paperwork that sensei always used, IF you help me do some research!" a lecherous grin plastered over Jiraiya's face

At this Minato sweat dropped.

Leave it to his sensei to still be perving around at a time like this. Still he did need a break and he hadn't gone 'researching' with his sensei since he was promoted to jounin all those years back.

Jiraiya had convinced him to take a peak right as Kushina-chan and Tsunade-sama had entered the hot springs. They immediately noticed and proceeded to beat he both of them within an inch of their life.

He shuddered at the memory.

_'Neither of them are in the village this time, what's there to lose? It's not like I'm doing anything important,'_ thought Minato. '_ Besides it'll be worth it if I can learn how to beat this blasted paperwork!'_

"Alright I'll do it, but if we get caught I'm flashing away..." This was why Jiraiya loved peaking with Minato. Once he mastered the Hiraishin there was no way he could get caught! "...without you." At those last words Jiraiya face faulted, that cheeky brat!

"Fine, fine. To the Hot Springs!" announced Jiraiya, with a crash he broke through one of the windows leaving an amused Minato in his wake.

_'There's no one else in world quite like sensei,'_ thought Minato with a smile. He quickly flashed away to the marker he ever-so-discreetly had hidden within the hot springs to wait for his super pervert of a sensei.

* * *

><p><strong>Yamanaka Flower Shop<strong>

Ino's day was going as perfect as possible. She made a bunch of new friends and even found a really cute boy in her class. Even though Naruto-baka was annoying, she still considered him a new friend and was even plotting on using him to try to get Sasuke's attention.

She had just arrived at her family's flower shop filled with happy thoughts. With a hum she skipped inside and left her butterfly bag behind the counter.

Sending a quick greeting to her mom, she began tending to the flowers.

The Yamanaka's' had owned this little flower shop for nigh on 4 generations.

The Shodai Hokage would even come by to pick up his flowers here. He loved watching all the life that was present in the one little shop. Sometimes even going so far as to spend an entire day surrounded by the only friend he knew would never betray him, Mother Nature.

He even gifted them a special garden just inside their clan compound, where they could pick their flowers. The flowers in this garden were never affected by seasons and always grew back the next morning after they were picked, it was the ultimate present, one they treasured to this day.

For this reason everyone came to the Yamanaka Flower Shop to receive all their orders. You could always find the type of flower you wanted no matter what the season. They were also some of the most gifted flower arrangers within Hi no Kuni. Almost like they were born to it.

Ino was currently tending to the jasmine's, her favorite flower. They represented grace and elegance which Ino always believed was how every princess should carry herself. Quietly humming to herself as she delighted in smelling and spraying every single flower.

As she walked past the flowers, they seemed to come to life. Standing a little bit taller, the colors more vibrant. Some were even growing at an alarming rate.

Her mother was quietly reading behind the counter watching her daughter tend to the flowers when all of a sudden it seemed as though the flowers themselves had come to life.

She had never seen anything like it. The only time she had ever heard of something like this was from her mother. She used to tell her stories of her great-great grandfather, the Shodai would spend hours talking about the wonders of watching him create new life from chakra.

Could it be that there was a new Senju heir? She had long before hidden her heritage. After her parents were killed in the second shinobi war, she decided it would be better to drop her last name and marry into an established clan. She would have to wait to speak to her husband when he got back from his council meeting. He was the only one who knew the truth behind her heritage.

Maybe even her great-aunt, Tsunade, would return. Who knew? After all she said she had no family worth staying for. Maybe Ino was the spark that revived the flame of her will.

* * *

><p><strong>Outside the Civilian Academy<strong>

Naruto's first day of school was not going how he expected. First, all the girls were fawning over Sasuke-teme. Then, all their instructor did was lecture them about the importance of having a strong foundation of reading and writing and math. When are you ever going to use math as a ninja! That was Naruto's thinking anyway.

The worst part came when he was eating lunch. At first it was just him, Sasuke, Shikamaru and Choji. All of a sudden Ino and Sakura, he finally found out the pink-haired girls name, joined in and brought over the weird guy with the red marks on his face, Kiba, and the weird girl with the white eyes, Hinata.

They started off quiet with the girls, sans Hinata, trying to get Sasuke's attention. Afterwards, they started to work the conversation toward their clans, which Naruto found the most interesting since almost everyone there was from a clan except Sakura.

That was when he found out that they had all already accessed their chakra and were getting special clan training! Special training! Naruto wasn't even allowed to play outside without any supervision! This ruined the rest of Naruto's day especially since he had been asking his uncle to train him ever since he found out he was the strongest ninja in the village.

Now he was sitting outside, impatiently waiting for his uncle to come pick him up. He'd been waiting for around half an hour, but he still hadn't arrived.

The more he sat there the angrier he got about the fact that kids his age already started top it off whenever the parents of other villager kids arrived they would look at him with disgust and turn their kids away.

Naruto couldn't get the whispers of, '_stay away from him'_ or the slight mutterings of _'demon child_' out of his head. He just wished he knew why the villagers treated him so poorly. He hadn't done anything wrong, not that he knew of anyway.

After another five minutes he realized his uncle probably got caught up with 'Hokage duties,' so he grabbed his froggy backpack and started down the street towards the Hokage Mansion. He was keeping to himself as he realized that there weren't very many people around him and he was receiving glares from everyone as he walked past, even more so now that his uncle or his nii-san weren't there to walk with him. The villagers wouldn't dare to hurt him, but they could shun him and keep him away from their businesses when the Hokage and his watchdogs weren't present.

The longer he walked the more frightened he became, slowly starting to pick up his pace to get home quicker. As the crowd got larger and larger, and the muttering grew louder and louder Naruto began sprinting his way out of the 3rd sector and made his way past the gate, glad to have escaped the large crowd of people. Just as he rounded the corner, he ran face first into a large man sporting a series of white dreadlocks that ran down to his back. He stood around 5"11 and wore a strange hitaite that Naruto had never seen before.

The man shrugged off the blow and took a closer look at the boy. Noticing his red hair he realized he must be an Uzumaki.

_'Didn't the Sandaime order the capture of an Uzumaki some years ago?'_ thought the strange man. '_Hmm it couldn't hurt to...' _his thoughts interrupted when the boy spoke

"Hey! Watch where you're going, you could get someone hurt," said the young Uzumaki, sending a weak glare at the man, quickly forgetting about the villagers.

The man chuckled to himself before speaking.

"Why don't you, watch where you're going. You ran into me, shrimpy" said the white-haired man with a flick to the boys forehead.

Naruto clutched at his forehead, annoyed that the stranger had hit him and was about to challenge him until he looked up at his forehead and realized the man must be a shinobi. With a squint of his eyes, he tried to decipher the strange man's headband.

The white-haired man noticed the young boy trying to concentrate and decipher his forehead protector, enjoying the look of concentration on his face. Deciding to save the boy the trouble he spoke,

"Its from Kumo kid, the Village Hidden in the Clouds"

Slowly taking in the information Naruto started to think back to where he heard Kumo a few seconds a lightbulb went off in his mind,

"You met with my uncle today!" shouted Naruto with a look of pride

The Kumo-nin was taken aback. He didn't realize that the Yellow Flash had a nephew, especially an Uzumaki nephew, that was new information to take home.

The thought of nabbing an extra paycheck he began formulating a plan. Sure his mission was to just steal the Hyuuga heiress, but if he could get out of here with the Hyuuga AND the Uzumaki, it would be a greater boon to their village. Hell he might even get paid triple for this.

"Yeah I did kid, hes a pretty cool guy," started off the plotting shinobi, "but, hey listen kid your uncle gave me permission to walk around the village and I'm having some trouble getting around. Would you mind showing me around? I heard there are some pretty cool clan compounds around here."

Thinking hard about Naruto made a facec. His uncle had warned him about going to places with strangers, but then again this man did just have a meeting with his uncle, and he was still mad at him for not picking him up. Besides maybe he'll get to see one of his new friends.

Thankfully for him his uncle made sure he knew how to get to all the major clan houses and where they were located. When it came to learning about the village Naruto would absorb the knowledge like a sponge, but his mind would wander off if you ever started talking about boring stuff like math.

Having made his decision Naruto looked up at the man and said,

"Yeah sure it's this way follow me!"

Not noticing the gleam in the man's eye.

* * *

><p><strong>Council Room<strong>

After returning from the council room Minato's day got progressively better.

Once Jiraiya had arrived at the hot springs Minato demanded that he get his payment BEFORE they started "researching." With a smirk Jiraiya made a cross shape with two fingers on each hand, creating a **Kage Bunshin(Shadow Clone)**. Minato's eyes widened at the realization of what his sensei had just done.

Shadow clones were normally used for scouting and reconnaissance. They returned their experiences to the user of the technique allowing for an instant transmission of information through their experience. Some shinobi of higher calibre train mentally train themselves using clones, while training their body at the same time.

Using a clone can not increase physical strength, however, by doing a series of exercise, such as **Taijutsu Katas (Fighting Techniques and Forms)**, they can retain the muscle memory and transfer it over to the original user of the jutsu. This can server to perfect the style, but the user of the technique would still have to physically train their body in order to increase their strength and speed with the style.

The only downside to the technique is that it requires a lot of chakra from the user as they're essentially splitting their reserves into multiple bodies

By using a shadow clone to do his paperwork Minato could enjoy himself with his guilty pleasures, while his clones did all the work and he retained the knowledge of the papers that had to be signed. Who knew such a simple trick like the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu(Shadow Close Technique) would alleviate the amount of work he actually had to do.

With his new revelations he sent a shadow clone to take his place in the office and work on the paper work, essentially acting as a figure head. Meanwhile Minato spent the whole day with his pervy sensei peeping on women and helping him with new ideas for his books. He was so giddy with excitement he lost track of time and forgot that he had to pick up Naruto form school.

Unfortunately his day met an abrupt end when he was called into the council room to discuss the proposal of an alliance with Kumo, and that is where he found himself now.

The Council members had been going back and forth debating the pros and cons of accepting and declining the proposal. Half of the council said yes, the other half said no. They were in a stalemate, but nobody was agreeing with each other on their reasons for accepting or declining.

Just as the deliberation was reaching its climax Minato felt a tug on the back of his mind, it seemed to be coming from the barrier. Completely focusing on the barrier he began to collect nature chakra in his chair, activating his connection to the barrier and searching for the disturbance. Within seconds of 'looking' he sensed a disturbance in Sector 2 just on the outskirts of the village.

The Kumo-nin he had a meeting with was running towards the outer wall, it seemed as if he was attempting to leave the village, but why? Taking a closer 'look' he sensed to more chakra sources with the Kumo-nin. One very small source and the other relatively large. Upon sensing these chakras he immediately identified one as Naruto's. He just now realized he had left he boy alone without any supervision!

Opening his eyes he immediately flashed to the Hiraishin marker he had placed on Naruto's clothes, to the surprise of various council members.

Arriving just in front of the Kumo-nin, he noticed he had both children slung across his back in separate bags.

With a look of surprise on his face the Kumo-nin slowed before throwing out a volley of kunai and shuriken attempting distract the young kage.

Minato quickly sidestepped the volley of knives and responded with his own tri-pronged kunai, dropping one on the floor and throwing the other two. The first he threw was towards the bag on the man's back, the second was slightly delayed and angled towards the mans chest.

Within seconds the battle was over. As the Kumo-nin attempted to dodge the first kunai, all he saw was a flash of yellow and was parted from his package. Two more flashes later the man lay dead at the Hokage's feet. In the time it took the man to dodge the second kunai, Minato had flashed forward, taken the children flashed backwards to safety and once again flashed forward to the third and final kunai, ending the man's life with a quick clean cut to the jugular.

This was the power of Konoha's Yondaime Hokage

Taking both kids in his arms, he flashed back to the council room placing them both in the corner of the council room. Ignoring the wide-eyed stares of his associates he flashed back to the body of the kumo-nin, taking it with him on his final trip and depositing it on the council chambers floor.

From start to finish it had taken less than a minute.

The council members in the room shuffled through a medley of emotions. Initially they were shocked, then they were confused, and finally they were angry as they realized what had just occurred. Their voices gaining volume as they called for more Kumo blood. The elders sat quietly watching the young kage and reading his reaction

Of the council members none voiced his anger more than one Hiashi Hyuuga, but even his anger paled in comparison to that of the Yondaime. The aura that he emitted was terrifying and the small, concentrated amounts of killing intent that were being released were enough to make even the most seasoned jounin freeze.

With a single raise of the hand, he silenced the council chambers.

The Sandaime took this opportunity to speak,

"Minato. You understand that the Raikage will demand reparations for what has occured here tonight. Killing one of his shinobi that we granted immunity to during his visit will not be taken lightly. At the very least they will be demanding a pair of Hyuuga eyes, as we can see that was their intent with the capture of young Hinata.

Upon hearing his words, Minato turned to look at the aged Sarutobi. With a cold edge to his voice, he spoke,

"They will receive what they deserve"

Grabbing a scroll from his pack , he turned towards the body and with a quick swipe of his kunai severed the head from the torso. He then proceeded to seal the head within the scroll. Motioning towards two of the ANBU guards in the shadows, he said,

"Burn the body, get a box for this scroll. Make sure to mail it to the Raikage of Kumo. Send my regards"

* * *

><p><strong>Annnnnd Scene!<strong>

**The usual, shameless Review plea right down here. I want to know what you guys think so far. **

**Some people say "please no flamearino." I say HAVE AT IT, I'll cry in the corner later. **

**Any review is helpful at this point for feedback to help get**** an idea of how you feel so far.**

**I will be releasing a family tree on my profile to help explain the relationship between the Senju and the Yamanakas**

**It was something I always wanted to explore. Tsunade, Naruto, and the Yamanakas are the only blondes in Konoha. Somehow, somewhere Senju blood, all of which are represented with dark hair, and Yamanaka or Namikaze blood mixed together to create super powered blondes.**


	4. Prologue IV: The Awakening

**Hullo again!**

**So before we begin to any League of Legends fans out their reading this story I only have one thing to say to you...**

**TSM TSM TSM!**

**Still love'm even though they lost**

**For those of you who don't understand, TSM is the team representing North America at the League of Legends World Championships. Yes, yes I'm a nerd, why else would I get so hyped for a computer game world championship...**

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**On to the story!**

**This chapter has been the longest and the most challenging. At about 9500 words, I spent 4 days writing and re-writing this chapter that I thought I'd never put it out. Thankfully though here we are today with a brand new chapter and a finale to my prologue. Without further ado the finale to the prologue!**

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**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of the rights to the characters from the Narutoverse. Kishimoto if you're reading I challenge you to a 1v1 in League of Legends. Winner gets the rights! Yeah like that'll ever happen...**

* * *

><p><strong>3 years later<strong>

As the years went on Konoha continued to prosper. The young shinobi coming out of the academy were more prepared for the outside world and better equipped to deal with them thanks to the new reform. As their shinobi continued to grow so did their power.

During this time Minato saw the need to begin training Naruto to avoid another incident, like with the Hyuuga, in the shinobi arts. He focused mainly on the boys chakra control and **B****ukijutsu(Weapon Techniques), **figuring that with the boys growing chakra reserves, because of his tenant, he would have greater need for control.

Aside from these exercises the Yondaime also gave Naruto some scrolls with the **Katas(Forms)** for Minato's own fighting syle, leaving it up to the boy to learn on his own, as he did all those years ago.

Tsunade had also, officially, returned to the village after her self imposed exodus.

Since then the medical program was at its all-time best. Leading the known world in medical care. The day Jiraiya arrive with her in tow was a much celebrated day. Although the details behind her return were unclear, it was certain that her return meant great tidings for Konohagakure.

Her return was highlighted with the return of the Uzumaki clan.

With his forces back to power, the Yondaime began launching a series of campaigns against the traitor Sannin, Orochimaru. During one of the raids, Konoha shinobi were able to retrieve 3 members of the former illustrious clan.

Uzumaki Honoka an 18 year old girl with fiery red hair and a calm demeanor. She was trained by her parents as a traditional Uzumaki seal master, which Orochimaru took advatange of and was in the process of using her to create the ultimate summoning contract.

Uzumaki Karin, a 9 year old girl who had remarkable chakra with healing properties as well as having sensory capabilities. She was being used as a spy within Kusagakure as well as an apprentice researcher.

Uzumaki Tayuya, a 9 year old girl being trained as one of Orochimaru's Elite Guard. A genjutsu prodigy with a foul mouth, having been taken in by Orochimaru off the streets, Orochimaru was almost like a savior to her.

Over time the two younger girls were integrated within the Konoha culture. Having been given an escort and admission to their ninja academy, the girls quickly realized that what they were given was a mercy compared to what they endured with Orochimaru.

The oldest of the three, grateful for her rescue, was given the rank of chunin for her cooperation. Of course, this was under the condition that she teach in the ninja academy, thus making **Fuinjutsu (Sealing Techniques)** part of the academy curriculum.

Unfortunately, with the recovery of the three Uzumaki women, some members on the council, Danzo and the Fugaku, saw this as an opportunity to begin a "breeding program" effective immediately since these women, in their eyes, could not be trusted. By creating this "breeding program" they could intermix the Uzumaki females with some of the more powerful clans. merging the bloodlines with the Uzumaki Vitality that allowed them such large chakra pools.

This was immediately put to an end when the Yondaime immediately intervened, shutting down the operation before it had even begun. After the Hyuuga incident, nobody dared go against the Yondaime's wishes especially after seeing the vicious side he carried with him. Begrudgingly those particular council members backed off the breeding program, for now, and allowed the girls to inhabit the Uzumaki Clan house near the Hokage Mansion.

This was their sort-of test to prove their heritage, as only Uzumaki blood could open the sealed gates to enter the compound.

Thankfully, all three passed this "test," but their council seat would be put on hold until one of them reached Jounin status within the village. No one was more excited than Naruto since he now had three more people to add to his family.

With good also came bad.

Relations with Kumo were strained ever since the Hyuuga incident. Kumo'sborders were closed to all Konoha-nin and all Kumo-nin operating within Hi no Kuni had a kill-on-sight order issued by the Hokage.

The Raikage, A, had personally sent his response to Minato immediately after the package was delivered.

That was one of the scariest days post-kyuubi for many civillians and ninja alike.

Outside the gates of Konoha stood the second fastest man in the world. Arms crossed with his bleach blonde hair combed back, he stood around 6'6 with a hulking physique. He wore his Kage haori over nothing, revealing his chiseled chest, and had his Kage hat on which was emblazoned with the kanji for lightning. Within milliseconds of his arrival, the Yondaime flashed to the front of the gates, staring down his fellow Kage.

In the moments that followed the amount of chakra released bore down enough pressure to make the most elite jounins falter. The killing intent that followed had many of them keeling over, nauseated by the sheer willpower exuded by the two men. No words were exchanged during this meeting, only glares, but the message was clear.

War was on the horizon.

With a smirk, the Raikage turned and slowly walked away, having delivered his message, leaving his colleague to glare at his back until he was out of sight.

This was a minor issue compared to what was occurring within the village itself.

Apparently Fugaku had generated enough hatred and scorn for the village amongst his fellow Uchiha that they were currently planning a coup d'etat against Minato and the village. If it weren't for his two best spies, Itachi and Shisui, he would have never found out that Danzo was involved as well. Triple agents by design, they successful infiltrated ROOT, and he now had eyes and ears within the Uchiha contingent. He was hoping to deal with Fugaku personally possibly giving him and his clan member a more luxurious position in order to appease the clan. He really did not want to lose another of the founding clans of this village...

* * *

><p><strong>Undisclosed Location<strong>

It was darker than usual, colder too. Two lights were illuminating 5 figures seated in the lotus position at the head of the room. This wasn't the first time, Uchiha Itachi had been in this room before.

Over the last 7 years Itachi and his best friend Shisui were acting as spies within the Uchiha Clan.

A week after the Kyuubi attack they were both handed over to Danzo where they were gruesomely trained in the shinobi to their prodigious natures, they quickly rose through the ranks. They were Uchiha members by day, ROOT by night. This was how they progressed so quickly through the ranks.

Before the Yondaime could implement his new schooling reform Itachi and Shisui had already made chunin, making jonin by 10 and currently ANBU captain at 13. With their advancements Danzo continued to get his clutches deeper and deeper into Konoha's infrastructure hoping to one day have one of his ROOT soldiers as acting ANBU Commander.

Months after their initial contact with Danzo, Fugaku began formulating his plan. Keeping both Itachi and Shisui in the loop, explaining to them the reason they were being so gruesomely trained by Danzo and his elite shinobi. Fugaku believed that Danzo had no idea what he was planning to do and so confided all of his plans into the boys making sure they understood the importance of their roles to the clan.

Neither of them agreed to this... atrocity, but they kept quiet and instantly went to their Hokage. Explaining everything to him, even the involvement of Danzo.

At first Minato was furious at their actions, but the rational side of his mind took over before he could do something rash. He could use this to take out two targets at once. Cut off the figurehead of the rebellion in Fugaku, and get rid of the second most dangerous man in Konoha, Danzo. First, though, he needed more information before he could take them down.

He had chosen to play them both and pit them against each other while, pitting them against himself. He purposefully told the boys to reveal their father's plot to Danzo. Danzo then came to the elders, the current and former Hokages with new information regarding a possible coup against the leaf. Thus, this is where they now stood, giving their report of the months findings to their superiors.

With a stoic look, Itachi began his report.

"The Uchiha clan plan to strike on the anniversary of the Kyuubi's attack 2 weeks from now. It is my belief that not everyone is fully committed to the cause, but are being coerced by the ring leaders, Uchiha Setsuna, Uchiha Tekka, Uchiha Inabi, Uchiha Yashiro, Uchiha Yakumi and my father Uchiha Fugaku."

The elders took a moment to absorb all this information, it seemed that they had very little time to react properly. The first to speak was Danzo.

"The solution is simple. We end the Uchiha clan before the rebellion begins," he began, "If we do nothing and a civil war begins Kumo will invade and all will be lost. It is not wise to leave such a threat within our village."

Looking over at the members sitting next to him he saw impassive looks from 2 of his 3 former teammates and the Hokage, the last one had a look of disgust on his face,

"You and your ideal disgust me Danzo, did Kagami's sacrifice mean nothing to you? Do you have no love for the innocents."

Danzo turned to address the former Kage,

"Nothing comes before the village, our sensei taught us that. We must end any threat to our Village with whatever means necessary, no matter how hard the decision may be for a weak-willed man like you."

The room became silent once more, everyone mulling over the ramifications of the mass murder of an entire shinobi clan.

Hiruzen was afraid that Minato would succumb to the will of his former teammates, his suspicions confirmed when he heard his successor speak,

"Uchiha Itachi, Uchiha Shisui. You are being assigned an S-Rank mission, under no circumstances are you to divulge the parameters of your mission. Do you understand?"

Both boys nodded their heads.

"You will eliminate the Uchiha threat, leave no one alive."

* * *

><p><strong>Hokage Tower<strong>

Minato sat on his chair currently staring out the window at the village.

The sun was setting.

This was one of the pleasures of having the best view in the village, watching the colors of the sun as they lit the village. Each color seemed to play off the glass of the surrounding building giving the village an all-to-perfect sheen.

As he enjoyed the sight two blurs appeared behind, both kneeling as they respectfully acknowledged him.

Minato slowly turned, taking in the appearances of the newcomers, Uchiha Itachi and Uchiha Shisui, his look distant as if lost in thought.

They waited in silence for a few minutes before Shisui's curiosity got the better of him,looking up he said

"Hokage-sama," he started somewhat hesistantly, "what exactly did you call us for?"

He was the more outspoken of the two, no amount of ANBU training would beat that out of him.

Minato turned his full attention onto the boys kneeling before him. Yes, his plan would work out flawlessly. He motioned for them to stand.

"I've called you both to tell you I have officially cancelled your mission," he said quietly gauging the reactions of the boys.

There was none.

"I see you're not surprised," continued Minato, "care to explain why?"

Seeing the opportunity to speak, Shisui immediately began,

"It made no sense that you would order us to massacre the entire clan. As our reports stated some members are only interested in co-existing within the village,"he said firmly, "You as a strong-willed, intelligent man, would not bow down to the whims of the elders so easily if there were an easier solution," he finished satisfied with his answer.

Minato turned to Itachi.

"Do you feel the same way?"

Itachi's cold, calculative face gave nothing away.

"Hai, Hokage-sama," began Itachi, "With Danzo-sama present there was no way for you to give us your true orders, the best course of action would be to take out the ring leaders that are generating the Anti-Konoha propaganda and cutting off the snakes head. However, because of how long we have taken to act, any grievance against the Uchiha Clan can rapidly spark up the rebellion and we shall have war once more."

Minato smirked at his response, Itachi was a true prodigy.

Everything in the meeting was going as planned, now came the real test of these boys skills.

"Now that you both understand the fire that we're playing with here I will give you, your true mission. You will divulge this ifnormation to no one under the penalty of death. Do you understand?"

Both young men nodded their heads.

"The time is nigh to use all the information you have both been gathering for me on both the Uchiha clan and ANBU ROOT. You will assassinate the ANBU ROOT Commander, Shimura Danzo, at the same time dismantling their headquarters. Danzo has been a thorn in this villages side for far too long. It is time to take him out of the equation," explained Minato, pausing once again to gauge their reactions.

Both boys stood stoicly awaiting the rest of their Hokage's orders.

"I have also received word from Jiraiya, informing me of a new mercenary group based in **Amegakure (The Village Hidden in the Rain) **called Akatsuki. "

"Once you have eliminated Danzo, you will kill all of the ring leaders, of the Uchiha coup, making sure there is no trace of Konoha involvement."

"You will be marked as A-Rank missing nin in our bingo books and you shall infiltrate this mercenary group. According to Jiraiya they dress in black cloaks adorned with red clouds. Take whatever means necessary to get the leaders acceptance. Relay all information to myself, or the Sandaime, whom I've already made aware of our plan," finished Minato.

Once Minato had finished, he proceeded to take in the boys demeanor.

There was an air of acceptance that he had perceived earlier in the day when he had assigned their mission. Their response was immediate,

"Hai, Hokage-sama"

Hiding his victorious smirk, Minato kept his cold facade.

"Your mission begins tonight at midnight."

* * *

><p><strong>Outskirts of Konoha<strong>

As night fell across the Village, two blurs could be seen dashing towards the forest line, stopping right where the barrier stopped and encircled the entire village. They stood there waiting for several minutes before a swirl appeared on the opposite side of the barrier.

The man before them wore an unadorned black cloak, and had an orange swirl mask on his face. In the dark light most shinobi would not notice the gleaming red eye hidden within the mask, but these two were not like most shinobi.

Uchiha Madara.

The man who attacked Konoha 7 years prior and killed Uzumaki Kushina.

'So this is the leader of Akatsuki,' thought Itachi.

Immediately after their meeting with their Hokage they sent word to Akatsuki of their defection, through some of Jiraiya's spies they managed to weave the information through the grapevine and attract their attention.

A paper bird was all that responded, the coordinates to this location printed on the paper.

Now standing here looking at the man they knew their Hokage despised they began to have some doubts that theyd be able to complete this mission. No one lied to Uchiha Madara and survived.

Madara was along the same thoughts, he was unsure what to think when he got the message of not one, but two Uchiha defectors. He came here to confirm their story and ensure that they passed his judgement.

Two extra pairs of Sharingan would make capturing the nine bijuu a lot easier when they have their full strength. And they would make great replacements should he ever need them.

Both parties seemed to stand there for what seemed like an eternity, taking stock of each other, attempting to find a weakness to exploit. None was found, yet.

Madara spoke,

"Lets make this clear, I do not trust you. You do not trust me. You know who I am and what I am capable of, yet I know little of the two of you. Therefore tonight you will prove your loyalty to me."

"Tonight we kill your Hokage."

* * *

><p><strong>ROOT Headquarters<strong>

Today was the day Danzo collected his prize.

In his own eyes, Danzo was his sensei's perfect student. Embodying the will of fire while sacrificing anything for the sake of the village. He believed his pragmatism and his fanatic love for the village's well being no matter the cost were the ideals the Nidaime left behind for his nidaime's oppression to the Uchiha had rubbed off on his young student and showed greatly when he petitioned for the death of the entire clan. It wasn't as if he hated them. No. He envied the gifts they were blessed with, but they did not have the village's best interest in mind. As such those eyes deserved to belong to someone who did.

Hiruzen, it seemed, took more after the Shodai. While powerful, he let his kind-heart rule his actions. He could not, would not, take the necessary actions to protect the village. The Yondaime was showing signs of a man who knew how to rule, yet Danzo couldnt help question his motives towards the kyuubi boy. It seemed his interest was not in the best for this village.

Danzo would not allow this to happen.

For without dark there was no light, and without roots there were no would be the roots that supported this great village. regardless of the sacrifice, even if it meant the lives of innocents.

At one point and time Danzo may have been considered handsome, now however he was a veteran of time. He had shaggy black ahir, with a criss-cross scar across his chin. His right eye was covered by a series of white bandages that wrapped around his head, as was his right arm. He wore a white haori over nothing,tied with a white obi. and wore a pair of black shinobi sandals. He was currently walking through the corridors of ROOT, his cane lightly tapping the concrete floors of his headquarters.

Having the base located just outside the Yondaime's barrier and buried about 30 feet underground, His headquarters were nigh impenetrable. Only full fledged members of ROOT knew the entrance to the facility. These agents carried a seal that would not allow them to speak of ROOT or of Danzo without killing them.

He felt safe within his sanctuary, but he always kept two guards with him no matter where he went. Today the duty fell to two of his regulars Yamanaka Fu, and Aburame Torune. They were his 3rd and 4th ranked ROOT members.

Fu had a knack with mind possession traps and was gifted with interrogation tactics, like most Yamanaka's.

Torune held within him a very special, nano-size Kikaichu beetle, which was extremely poisonous. These insects could be spread by a simple touch and were pivotal to his fighting style.

On this night, those abilities were a non-factor.

Danzo felt a chill in the air as he walked into a spacious room with four wooden bridges connecting to a central, concrete landing. The chill proceeded down his spine, every nerve in his body screaming danger.

His body visibly tensed, but he kept calm, his eyes immediately on alert. You didn't live to be 56 years old without extreme caution and awareness of your surroundings.

Out of the shadows in the corridor before him strolled two figures, their faces still masked by darkness. Fu and Torune instantly readied themselves for battle. Danzo's eyes narrowed, who had found them and how?

As the two figures walked out of the shadows Danzo immediately recognized them. His prodige's Shisui and Itachi. He visibly relaxed. These two were the epitome of the ROOT program. The perfect soldiers. With the appearance of both ROOT shinobi, having verified their identities, Fu and Torune moved backwards, waiting in the shadows as per protocol.

"Itachi, Shisui," he said acknowledging them as they knelt before their master.

"Danzo-sama," they replied in unison.

"Rise," spoke Danzo.

"How go the preparations," he continued, " I trust everything is ready for tonight?"

"Hai, Danzo-sama," they replied in unison.

Satisfied with this answer Danzo turned, motioning for his guards to follow, ready to retire for the night.

Turning what he found was far from what he expected. The bodies of both Fu and Torune sprawled before him, taken out with a single cut.

Shock marred his normally impassive features. He turned just in time to see both Itachi and Shisui vanish in a flock of crows. **Genjutsu (Illusionary Technique)**.

The Shisui appeared behind Danzo, tanto on his neck.

"My apologies Danzo-sama," his voice emotionless. With a quick cut he severed his head from his body, letting the body fall to the floor with an audible thud.

Turning towards Itachi he nodded curtly, taking this moment to clean his blood-stained blade. He did not notice the body of Danzo vanish, but Itachi did.

"SHISUI!" he shouted, too late.

Danzo reappeared behind him, plunging his blade deep into the heart of Shisui,the blade sticking out from the opposite side. His eyes full of surprise as he looked down at the protruding blade. Looking back up at Itachi, with a ghost of a smile etched on his face as the light left his eyes.

...

...

Seconds turned into hourse as Itachi watched Danzo pull the blade out from Shisui's back, his lifeblood spilling on the concrete floor. Itachi's shocked expression enough to momentarily satisfy Danzo. Regarldess of all the emotional conditioning, nothing compared to the pain of losing your most precious person.

In that moment Itachi shouted in agony, both at the pain of his loss and at the sudden pain in his eyes, as chakra surged towards his sharingan.

Gouts of black flame seared everything in front of him.

When the pain finally subsided he looked up once again seeing the charred remains of his best friend. Checking his surroundings for Danzo he saw a second pile of ash, but knew it was not him. He saw him use the **Kawarimi no Jutsu (Substitution Technique)** just before the flames reached him.

Standing he felt a new surge of strength. Everything he saw was clearer, the dark seemed to receded just a bit more giving him better visibility, and his ability to see the chakra around him seemed to increase tenfold. This was the power his friend bestowed upon him before dying and he would use it to avenge him and fulfill their mission.

'What were the those black flames?'

The name of the technique sub-consciously appeared in his mind,

'**Amaterasu(Heavenly Illumination)**'

From the shadows Danzo looked down in amazement, taking in Itachi's new eyes noticing their pinwheel design,

'So this is the power of the **Mangekyou Sharingan(Kaleidoscope Eye)**...' thought Danzo, ' I need to make sure to not damage his eyes in this fight, I'll be needing a replacement soon.'

'I won't be able to take this boy lightly'

He began taking off the bandages around his eye, revealing a dead, white eye and sever scarring tissue around his face. Unraveling the bandages on his arm, he revealed a pale, ivory colored arm, seemingly re-attached to his torso as the tone did not match the rest of his tan body, a face protruding from his shoulder.

During this entire process Itachi had located Danzo. He was currently focusing on what he was planning, first taking in the dead white eye in his right socket.

His chakra pathways seemed to pump more chakra into his right eye than his left, somewhat similar to that of a D**oujutsu(Eye Technique)** user. Taking a closer look his right eye pathways looked similar to that of Kakashi, a permanently active Doujutsu, but which doujutsu was it?

Recognizing that it was an implanted eye he began to replay the information of the last couple of minutes through his head, the moment as Danzo disappeared after Shisui's killing blow forever seared into his mind.

'That disappearance... it was almost as if he had re-written fate somehow. The only technique possible of doing that was...'

The ultimate Uchiha genjutsu, granting the power to change one's fate, at the cost of an eye.

'**Izanagi**'

Itachi continued to watch without revealing any emotions, inside he was seething. The man who killed his best friend, had stolen an eye from one of his clansmen. It was one thing to have it gifted to you, as with Kakashi-taichou, another to steal the eye and use it so carelessly, without any regard. He used it as if it were replaceable.

Reaching this conclusion, he watched as Danzo unwrapped his arm, revelaing the pale white skin beneath the bandages. It almost seemed dead, but Itachi recognized the chakra that was being emitted from the arm alone.

It was similar to a former ROOT member codenamed Yamato. Theo nly boy of sixty to survive the transplant of the shodai's genes. This would be an interesting fight. Upon further inspecting Itachi realized that the arm seemed incomplete. The arm was riddled with what seemed like holes, and they were all empty save the one on his palm. This one had a red orb with three tomoes ringed around a central black orb.

Recognizing the orb in the palm of Danzo's implanted arm, Itachi let a scowl mar his face. It was second time he had showed any true emotion since becoming ANBU, the first having happened minutes ago when Shisui was killed.

This man would pay for his transgressions against his clan.

Recognizing that Danzo had finished, Itachi had pulled back his sleeves just enough to show seals on his wrists. Placing his hands to his wrists he began unsealing shuriken from his seals and throwing them with precision towards Danzo

In the span of seconds 4 waves of shuriken had been launched. With each wave containing five shuriken Itachi began forming the hand seals for one of the Sandaime's most revered techniques,

Ram → Rat → Bird → Boar → Tiger

"**Ninpo: Kage Shuriken Bunshin no Jutsu(Shuriken Shadow Clone Technique),"**

In an instant the 5 shuriken multipled into 20 in each wave. Totaling around 100 shuriken arriving within miliseconds of each other at intercepting intervals.

Having finished the handseals for he began a new set,

Snake → Ram → Monkey → Boar → Horse → Tiger

"**Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu( Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique)**"

A large fireball setting the kunai alight and increase their potency just as they reached Danzo.

Itachi watched as Danzo kawarimi'd just in front of him with a plank rapidly going through a set of seals,

Rat → Rabbit → Dog

"**Fūton: Shinkūgyoku(Wind release: Vacuum Wind Bullets)**"

Having tracked the wind bullets, Itachi allowed them to hit him as he disappeared in a murder of crows, reappearing behind Danzo just as he released the Genjutsu.

It was too late, Itachi spoke as he plunged his tanto deep into Danzo's heart,

"There is nothing these eyes can't see, and they see... your death."

Itachi watched as Danzo's body disappeared as it had earlier and reappeared in front of him once more.

With a quick glance he watched as the eye on the palm of his hand closed. Realizing his 'ultimate defense' was gone Itachi began to pick up the pace of the fight, immediately flying into a new series of hand seals,

Rat → Tiger → Dog → Ox → Rabbit → Tiger

"**Katon: Hōsenka no Jutsu(Fire Release: Phoenix Sage Fire Technique)**"

A series of fire bullets were emitted from his mouth flying towards Danzo from different directions. He chained this technique with the one he had just copied from Danzo,

"**Fūton: Shinkūgyoku"**

The wind bullets impacting the fire bullets enlarging them and increasing the intensity of the flames.

He watched as Danzo stood still and began flying through his own handseals, eyeing the increasing chakra coming from his transplanted arm,

Rat → Dog → Tiger

"**Mokuton: Mokujōheki(Wood Release: Wood Locking Wall)**"

His question answered, a series of wooden beams created a half dome shield around Danzo's body, blocking the incomming fireballs

Itachi immediately rushed forward in a burst of speed, but when he arrived Danzo was nowhere to be found. Turning he found Danzo begin the seals for his summoning technique,

"**Kuchiyose no Jutsu!**"

In a poof of smoke, a large mammoth like creature appeared and began sucking in all the air in the surrounding area.

Itachi attempted to root himself to the ground, but found it ineffective.

As he struggled on the ground Danzo went on the offensive, using the wind created by Baku's suction technique he jumped behind and to the side of Itachi, just outside of Baku's range,

"**Katon: Gōryūka no Jutsu(Fire Release: Great Dragon Fire Technique)**"

With the wind amplifying the flames there was no way Itachi would be able to counter in time without taking out the summon creature. With his hands momentarily useless he only had his eyes. Eyes glowing he thought,

'**Amaterasu!**'

Within seconds the beast's suction stopped, but the flaming dragon behind him was still present and he was seconds away from being burned to a crisp. With no time to **Kawarimi** away Itachi turned, his eyes glowing once more, this time a new technique seemed to spring to hid mind as he thought,

'**Susanoo(Tempestuous God of Valour)!**'

A glowing red rib cage appeared, shielding Itachi from the flames. He instantly felt a drain on his reserves he was currently around half. He needed to end this fight now.

The glowing rib cage disappeared, revealing a shocked Danzo. Taking this opportunity to get in close Itachi rushed forward engaging Danzo in taijutsu.

The Interceptor Style of the Uchiha clan worked better as a counter to other techniques using the Sharingan to predict their movements and counter, but Itachi knew where he weakness was. In his old age Danzo had slowed down considerably, making him more vulnerable to Itachi's speed.

Coming in with a high kick that Danzo blocked, Itachi began a flurry of punches aimed for Danzo's torso, forcing the older man to block or take glacing blows that he could ill afford.

With every block Itachi found new openings to take advantage of in Danzo's defense. He began to pick him apart with subtle blows laced with chakra. All the while he released a steady stream of his own chakra into the air beginning to weave his genjutsu.

Up to this point Danzo had yet to look into Itachi's eyes having fought various Uchiha before he knew that one look and this fight was over. Yet it was becoming increasingly difficult for Danzo to keep up with the younger boy in hand to hand combat. However, Danzo noticed the boy got over-aggressive when taking openings in Danzo's guard.

In his inexperience and haste to end the fight, he had left himself wide open for Danzo's counter, as an overextended arm made his way towards Danzo's head he grabbed it, holding it firm as he unsealed his cane-sword with his other hand. Plunging the sword deep into the boys chest, he looked up triumphantly as he saw blood seeping from his mouth. Bringing his eyes higher he registered the shock that appeared in his eyes for all of a second, before he smiled.

He had looked into his eyes.

Disappearing in a murder of crows, Danzo was dragged into a world of red and black.

* * *

><p><strong>Inside Tsukuyomi<strong>

Before him stood Itachi sitting on a throne. Looking down at himself he noticed himself tied to a post, turning to Itachi he spoke,

"What is this, where have you taken me"

Standing from his throne, Itachi spoke,

"You are now within my **Tsukiyomi(Moon Reader)**. In this world I can create whatever I want, do whatever I want."

Walking towards him he continued,

"For the next 72 hours, you will experience the pain of losing every single one of your limbs one by one"

Danzo watched as Itachi pulled out his tanto and began cutting off his appendages. The agony was excruciating, it almost seemed real. Danzo had to remind himself he was in a Genjutsu.

"71 hours 59 minutes to go"

* * *

><p><strong>Outside Tsukuyomi<strong>

In the real world only 3 seconds had passed as Itachi watched Danzo fall to the ground on one knee. He was still alive after the amount of mental torture he had be put through, but he wouldn't be for long.

Grabbing his tanto he walked up to Danzo. With a stab he plunged his sword deep into Danzo's chest, listening to his ragged breathing he whispered,

"For Shisui"

Pulling out his sword he turned walking away before he heard Danzo speak for the last time,

"If this is my end, I'll make sure to end you as well!"

Pulling back his robes, a series of black seals began to form,

"**Ura Shishō Fūinjutsu!(Reverse Four Symbols Sealing Technique)**"

Itachi's eyes widened as he saw the seals extend from Danzo's body, quickly using a **Shunshin(Body Flicker) **he disappeared to a safe distance and watched as a large black orb surrounded Danzo's body absorbing everything with the diameter of the sphere.

With one last look at the devastation behind him, Itachi disappeared in a flicker getting ready to finish the rest of his objectives.

* * *

><p>Hokage Tower<p>

Sitting in the dark, gazing out into the village was one Namikaze Minato, the Yondaime Hokage. His arms resting on either side of his chair, clasped together in front of him, his eyebrows creased in though.

'Itachi and Shisui should have made contact with the leader of Akatsuki, and started Danzo's assassination.'

There was a lot at stake on this mission, he was going to possibly lose two of his best operatives, but what he would gain would be much more.

'A loyal Uchiha clan, less resistance on the council and two spies within a new mercenary organization of S-Rank shinobi. Yes, this would all be for the greater good, If I can keep the village safe then Naruto will be safe as well.'

He sat back on his chair and grabbed the saucer of sake that he had served on his desk. Tonight was cause for celebration.

If only he knew what was coming.

Downing the sake in one sip, he began absorbing some of the ambient nature chakra, curious to see if he would sense his two operatives as they began their fight.

As he extended his senses a sense of dread came over him, followed immediately by anger.

Uchiha Madara had just appeared within his barrier, just on the outskirts of the village

Immediately flashing towards the nearest marker to his location he appeared before Madara, his anger evident, his killing intent leaking out in, enraged intervals. After 7 years he had finally reappeared. This time he would not lose.

Standing before him was an unconcerned Uchiha Madara. His posture conveying that of boredom. He looked over to Minato, as if inspecting a fly on the wall.

This enraged Minato to no end.

"I've waited 7 years to catch a glimpse of you. Not even my best spies could track you down, yet here you are. It feels like Christmas in September."

Madara just looked at the Namikaze, with an air of arrogance only the Uchiha had.

"Hn, to think this is Hasirama's legacy. A blonde brat, easily riled by the mere presence of his opponent."

Their last fight was what you could call a draw. Minato was able to release the Kyuubi from Madara and injure him enough to back off, but in the process he lost his wife. For Minato he lost that fight.

For Madara, it was a loss, he was forced to back away before he could realize the destruction of the leaf, losing his prosthetic arm in the process and the Kyuubi as well. All because he underestimated the young kage. That wouldn't happen twice. He wasn't as strong as he once was, but he was strong enough to deal with a nuisance like him.

"This is for Kushina," Minato said reaching back and grabbing tri-pronged kunai from his pouch taking note of Madara's, for lack of a better word, stance.

In a blur of motion both men began with their feints, Minato launched kunai after kunai carefully positioning them as they deflected off every kunai Madara sent his way.

In an instant Minato flashed towards Madara's position and they began with taijutsu.

For all his speed, it seemed Minato could not land a blow.

He came with a roundhouse kick, which after being blocked turned into a leg sweep, which was avoided with a leap. As Madara leaped, Minato had a** Rasengan(Spiraling Sphere)** plunging towards his chest. In that instant Madara became intangible, easily avoiding the **Rasengan** as it went straight through him.

Realizing his precarious position Minato flashed backwards to a marker about 10 yards away, creating a pair of clones before launching into a series of hand seals, one clone doing the same as the clone flashed to a hidden marker in the forest,

Tiger → Ox → Dog → Rabbit → Snake

"**Fūton: Daitoppa(Wind Release: Great Breakthrough)**"

Tiger

"**Katon: Gōryūka no Jutsu"**

The a large gust of wind emitted from the palms of the original met with flames as they raced towards Madara's position, fanning them as the heat increased and the techniques range nearly tripled.

Madara looked on unimpressed. Normally he would just phase through it, but wanting to prove his superiority he made one seal,

Horse

"**Katon: Gōka Mekkyaku(Fire Release: Great Fire Annihilation)**"

Emitting a powerful wall of fire easily matching the Hokage's combination technique, and overpowering it.

In the moment it took him to create the one seal, Minato had already flashed to the marker just behind him, charging up a larger than normal rasengan

"**Ōdama Rasengan(Giant Spiraling Sphere)**"

Seeing the large ball of chakra coming at him, Madara disappeared this time, reappearing just behind Minato, bringing a kunai down towards his lower back.

Sensing this Minato flashed away once again, to a safer marker staring his opponent down. It seemed he wasn't going to fall for the same trick twice. By countering with a jutsu instead of phasing through he could easily anticipate Minato's next attack.

He would just have to hit him with something he couldn't see coming.

Madara turned to look at the Yondaime.

'It seems he's improved, as to be expected from the leading prodigy of his generation.'

In that moment, Minato had closes his eyes...

'What was he planning...'

Seconds later orange marks he could see orange marks take over his eyes, the mark of a master sage. His pupils turned into horizontal slants, his chakra growing exponentially. Madara watched as he bit a finger and began going through the seals for a summoning technique,

"**Kuchiyose no Jutsu!**"

From the smoke appeared to elderly toads, a male and a female. He had summoned the elders of Mt Myoboku.

With the appearance of the two elderly sages, Fukusaku and Shima, Minato began explaining the situation, apologizing for bringing them into such a hectic situation.

Jumping onto his shoulders, they began to merge with Minato, allowing him the ability to freely fight while they gathered senjutsu, and greatly increasing his potential for combination attacks.

The downside to the combined sage mode was that Minato could not rely on the **Hiraishin(Flying Thunder God) **and his markers with Fukusaku and Shima merged onto his shoulders. He would have to rely on his natural speed and the **Kawazu Kumite(Toad Sage Fist) **to win this fight. The Kawazu Kumite allowed him to extend the range of his strikes through the use of natural energy.

Engaging Madara once again in taijutsu, he began to gain an upper hand. Forcing the masked man to phase through more attacks than he seemed wont to do before.

Madara, having faced Hasirama, knew of the extended range Senjutsu(Sage Techniques) allowed the user. Opting to phase through the attacks as opposed to risking this frail body with a direct or glancing blow from Minato's increased strength.

As Minato rained blows down upon the ethereal Madara, Fukasaku and Shima took the opportunity to time each and every phase shift counting exaclty how long he could maintain intangibility before having to become tangible once more.

It seemed there was a 1 second interval between each phase shift, they would have to time their techniques perfectly.

In this mode they were physically linked to the young sage, feeding him information.

Acknowledging the time interval that he had deduced from the last fight, he began formulating his plan.

'We're going to have to time this combination exactly to be able to land a debilitating blow, while I keep him distracted I need you both to bring the oil and heat.'

'You tell us when n' we'll brin' the heat Minato-chan,' responded Fukasaku

Smiling upon hearing these words, Minato began charging a sage powered rasengan, passing it straight through madara coming out the opposite end, just as the last of his body finished passing through he ordered,

'Now!'

Fukasaku and Shima had already been speeding through their seals,

"**Katon: Gamayu Endan(Fire Release: Toad Oil Flame Bullet)**"

The flames engulfing Madara as he became tangible.

Minato and the elders turned to watch in satisfaction as they landed a direct hit, their faces bright with shock as they watched their collaboration technique turned back on them.

This time when Madara had shifted, he brought something back with him.

Realizing that he was currently outclassed in this weakend state, Madara reached into his dimension, grabbing his Gunbai and reflecting the collaboration technique through the use of **Uchihagaeshi (Uchiha Reflection)**.

The reflection engulfed the young kage and he disappeared in a blaze.

* * *

><p><strong>Uchiha Clan Compound<strong>

It was a quiet night at the clan compound, but while everything seemed normal, there was a tension in the air.

Just about every shinobi in the clan knew about the possible coup that was approaching. Their leader, Fugaku, had made a call to arms for all the Uchiha bretheren, stating that Konoha blamed them for the Kyuubi attack.

It sounded like propaganda to many of them, but most would not dare defy their clan leader. After having established his ringleaders, Fugaku had a hold on most of the younger shinobi, using their arrogance in their own 'elite' status to fuel their rage towards Konoha at such a slight.

With all the pieces in place Fugaku was finally ready to make his move. Itachi and Shisui were his perfect weapons. Always obedient and always spying for him in the Hokage's affairs. If it weren't for that curse seal Danzo had placed on them, he would have known every detail about the ROOT program, but no matter, that was all in due time.

Fugaku was currently in his study, taking a look at the battle plans, ensuring that there were no lose ends. That was when he felt, a gust of wind behind him.

Turning he was shocked to see Itachi standing there, bloodied blade in hand.

"What do you think your're doing Itachi?" he asked, slightly fearful. He knew his skills, even he was not arrogant enough to think he was Itachi's superior in combat.

With a cold emotionless voice he replied,

"Purging the world of scum tou-san. Your ringleaders are all dead. Setsuna, Tekka, Inabi, Yashiro, Yakumi, all dead by my blade. Their families as well."

Any shock that should have shown was masked as Fugaku looked into his eldest son's eyes and realized, he never had him on his side. He had always belonged to the village, a traitor to his clan. It seemed Minato Namikaze had bested him once again.

"You would put this village trash before, your own flesh and blood? You disgust me," he spat.

Disappearing in a blur and reappearing directly behind the man he once called father, he spoke,

"Arrigato tou-sama..."

Those were the last words that Uchiha Fugaku heard before Itachi's blade stabbed him through the heart.

In that moment, a bleary-eyed Sasuke had walked into the study, having heard some commotion.

"Nii-san?" he said confused

"Whats wrong with tou-san?" taking a few minutes to register the blade, in Itachi's hand, his eyes widened in shock

"Nii-san why! Why would you do this!" he shouted

Looking over at his otouto, he hid the pain that he felt when he saw his betrayed eyes, he was too innocent,

"I needed to prove myself, and you foolish brother, will be my measuring stick. If you want to kill me, then blame me. Hate me. And live on in shame. Run and run...cling desperately to life. And then one day come to me bearing these..."His eyes shifted into the Mangekyou Sharingan, "...eyes that I bear now."

**"Tsukuyomi!"**

The world was awash with red and black as they entered Itachi's mind.

He made Sasuke relive the death of every Uchiha member he had killed that night.

The entire families of the ringleaders, slaughtered. No one was worst was watching the death of his father, over and over and over again, and not knowing the true reason why.

When the technique finally ended, Sasuke was on the floor unconscious, his Sharingan awakened.

* * *

><p><strong>Outskirts of Konoha<strong>

Admiring the work done by his gunbai, Madara shifted his gave to the tree line waiting for the kage to step out.

Once Minato saw the reflection technique his only alternative was to use his **Hiraishin** and flash out of the way, with this both the elders were forced to return to Mt. Myoboku. Luckily he still had his other clone collecting **Senjutsu** from earlier.

Stepping out of the forest line Minato looked over to the devastation wrought by collaboration technique. The crater left behind was large enough to create a new lake. It seemed that it was not only reflected, but also increased in power.

Despite the life or death situation, Minato was thrilled by the battle. He hadn't had an opponent this good since he faced off against Kumo's A-B combination back in the Third Shinobi war. His anger still present, but he could not allow it to cloud his judgment. Not against an opponent of this magnitude.

Madara likewise was enjoying the battle, but while he was enjoying the battle he had to finish this up quickly. He was sure that Minato could sense the Konoha forces arriving and it wouldn't do to have to fight the Sandaime and Tsunade at the same time. There was no doubt in his mind that he could, just not at the level of power he was currently at. He needed more time to collect the bijuu, then the world would know the full might of Uchiha Madara.

Turning towards the forest Madara also made out a single chakra signature arriving just on the outskirts.

Uchiha Itachi had arrived.

And he was alone.

'It seems like his friend didn't make it through the battle, he must have unlocked his mangekyou then,' thought Madara.

* * *

><p><em>Flashback<em>

_"Before we join you Madara-sama, we need to get rid of this curse seal placed upon us by Danzo."_

_Finishing they both opened their mouths revealing the curse seal Danzo had placed upon their tongue._

_"Very well, I will begin fighting the Hokage, as you start your battle. Join me when you finish. If you betray me, you will die."_

* * *

><p>Minato also seemed to take notice of Itachi arriving. He wasn't quite sure what he as doing here, he told him to meet with the Akatsuki leader and leave the village once his missions were complete.<p>

In a swirl of leaves, Itachi arrived by Madara's side, his Mangekyou Sharingan flared.

"It is done Madara-sama, Shimura Danzo is no more. I am free of his juinjutsu."

Madara's eyes bore into Itachi's,

"Indeed, it would seem so. Now we must attend to another matter. The Yondaime."

Minato gazed at the duo his face blank, his mind confused. That was until Madara shifted his gaze and Itachi began using the ANBU code. _Madara is the leader of Akatsuki. Mission Staus?_

Immediately understanding the situation Minato charged in, giving Itachi his answer.

_Continue the mission, do not abort._

Having dispelled the clone gathering nature chakra. Letting loose a volley of tri-pronged shuriken he flashed in and began fighting both Uchihas, using his **Hiraishin**, in combination with the **Rasengan** and **Kawazu Kumite**.

Both Uchihas were hard pressed to keep up with the Yondaime's speed, but it wouldn't last as his sage chakra was currently starting to fade. All they had to do was outlast him, then the fight would be over.

Phasing back and forth Madara weaved through his attacks, the younger Uchiha, not having dealt with sage chakra before, was not so lucky. Every glancing blow he took rattled him more than the next. It seemed as though the fight with Danzo had taken more out of him than he thought.

Minato continue his onslaught knowing that he had limited time before his senjutsu chakra would expire.

'I have to continue to fight Itachi to my full extent otherwise, Itachi's cover will be blown," thought the Namikaze

Seeing the young boy's fatigue he engaged him once more in taijutsu. Just as his sage chakra was expiring Minato gathered his chakra for final jutsu,

"**Katon: Gōen Rasengan!(Fire Release: Great Flame Spiralling Sphere)**"

Just as he was about to strike Itachi in the chest, he made slight eye contact.

Seeing his opportunity, Itachi cast his genjutsu,

"**Tsukuyomi!**"

* * *

><p><strong>Inside Tsukuyomi<strong>

Immediately Minato's world was awash with red and black.

This time instead of on a throne, Itachi knelt before his Kage.

"Hokage-sama, to what extent do I continue this mission?"

Minato looked down at the boy and smiled,

"Til the very end Itachi-san, for we are shinobi of Konohagakure no Sato. Everything we do is for the betterment of the leaf. That is why you must be the one... to end my life."

Itachi looked up at his Hokage, shock evident on his face. To kill one's Kage was the ultimate treason. There would be no return for him.

"Hokage-sama, I implore you to find an alternative."

With a firm hand on his shoulder he looked him in the eye and said,

"There is no alternative, that was my last technique. If you save me now, then the village will face an even greater threat in the future if Madara's plans succeed. I need you to find out what he is planning and report it back to the Sandaime. Do you understand?"

Itachi took a moment to absorb everything his Hokage just told him. The ultimate sacrifice, to save the village, and preserve this peace so that future generations would no longer have to suffer as they undoubtedly would.

"I understand Hokage-sama"

* * *

><p><strong>Outside Tsukuyomi<strong>

Minato slumped to the ground, his body spent. He looked up at Itachi with sadness in his eyes as he asked,

"Why?"

Itachi's face remained emotionless, as he plunged his blade into his Hokage's chest,

"For power," he replied.

It was just loud enough for Madara to hear, his smirk hidden behind his mask, not noticing the single tear that fell from Itachi's eyes as he turned away.

At that very moment it seemed as thought all of Konoha had arrived. Just in time to witness the greatest treason of their generation.

Standing before them was a man wearing an orange, spiral mask and black robes. Next to him was their pride and joy, Uchiha Itachi, and he had his blade plunged into their Yondaime's heart.

Many of them could not comprehend. Others fell to the ground tears welling up in their eyes as they watched Itachi pull the blade from his chest.

Once he had gotten his fill of satisfaction,Madara turned to the crowd,

"Your Hokage lies dead at my feet, and your prodigy has abandoned you. There is no hope for peace in this world of realities. You shall burn in the fires of war, before you realize, there is no escape in this false reality."

Having said what he needed, Madara placed a hand on Itachi's shoulder, pulling him into his pocket dimension, disappearing from sight.

All at once the Konoha shinobi rushed towards their downed Kage. The first to arrive was Tsunade as she attempted to stem the blood flow and seal the wound.

It was too late. She clenched her hands as she realized, she couldn't save another.

Minato looked up at Tsunade, just as she closed her eyes and tears began to stream down her face. weakly he spoke,

"T-Tsunade... P-please, t-take c-c-care of the village for me. I n-nominate you, as my successor,"

She put on a brave face for Minato,

"I will do my best Minato"

Upon hearing those words, Minato flashed away using his **Hiraishin **one last time, leaving the heartbroken group of shinobi.

* * *

><p><strong>Hokage Mansion<strong>

Naruto lay restless in bed.

Normally Naruto was a heavy sleeper, there wasn't much that could wake him. He loved to sleep, there was nothing better! Well except ramen, and the color orange and his oji-san...

Still for some strange reason he couldn't sleep tonight. he felt as if something bad was going to happen, he just didn't know what it was.

Call it family intuition.

Realizing he wasn't getting anywhere close sleep, Naruto decided to do what his oji-san always told him to do when he couldn't sleep, drink a warm glass of milk.

That's where Naruto was headed when he heard a noise downstairs. Remembering his shinobi training from his uncle, he began to quietly step forward towards the sound of the noise with a kunai in hand.

It seemed to be coming from the living room.

There was a figure sitting on the coach, Naruto couldn't make out his figure in the dark, but he could tell he had spiky hair. Getting curious he decided to get closer to take a look.

As he approached the light of the moon shone on the intruders face, it was his oji-san, but something was wrong, he looked pale, and there was blood on his chest.

He tentatively walked forward,

"Oji-san whats wrong?"

At the sound of his voice, Minato seemed to stir, he was on Death's door, but he would not dare leave without saying good-bye to his son, and so he held on for Naruto's sake.

"C-come here Naruto, I don't have much t-time," he said quietly

Walking forward he saw it. The chest wound.

His throat tightened,

'No, it can't be. Not oji-san...'

"Oji-san no!" he shouted rushing towards his uncles side, tears streaming down his face.

"Y-you t-told me y-you w-were the s-strongest. D-don't l-leave me all a-a-alone!"

He hugged tighter and tighter hoping that the harder he held on, the more likely he was to stay.

The look of anguish in his son's face hurt Minato more than the wound in his chest, but he needed to know, he needed to tell him

Tears streaming down his face, Minato spoke,

"Naruto look at me"

Looking up tears staining his whiskered cheeks,

"Y-you grew up so fast Naruto-kun. My only regret is that I wish I had more time to spend with my son. Your mom would be so proud of you. You're going to grow up to be a strong ninja. One that will change this world."

'W-what do you m-mean?" asked Naruto

Minato slowly lifted the picture frame he held in his hands and slowly handed it to Naruto.

"I love you Naruto-kun"

It was a picture of a smiling Minato and Kushina, their hands placed over Kushina's belly. Minato held her close, lovingly.

Seeing this picture broke Naruto's heart, he had a dad. He was living with him this whole time, he looked down as tears freely flowed from his eyes.

"W-why tou-san, WHY DID YOU HIDE IT FROM ME!" he yelled.

Looking up as he yelled, he realized.

His father was gone.

"TOU-SAAAAAN!"

* * *

><p><strong>Read and Review, let me know what you think please.<strong>


	5. Academy Days I: A New Beginning

**Man it's been a while. This chapter gave me all sorts of headache I think I accidentally hit the back button like 5 times and erased about 500-1000 words everytime, so frustrating**

**NEWS: I ****just started a new job as of 10/7/14 so my schedule is a little shaky.**

**S****ome of you may have noticed the update on my profile, some of you may not have so I'm just putting it here just in case. There are also a couple of new links/sources that I've been using to help with my story so feel free to check those out.**

**I still do not have a beta. Everything is proof-read and edited by me.**

**Reviews:**

Akgreenday: I used to watch twitch, favorite streamer was TheOddOne. Not enough hours in the day anymore Q.Q

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LordTicky: Main goal of my prologue was to portray the event's that will shape how Naruto's life will be changing, while giving us all a bit more Minato action that we didn't get in early canon.

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**Thanks again to all of you who Reviewed/Followed/Favorited your support is what motivates me to put out these chapters!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of the rights to the characters from the Narutoverse, If I did I wouldn't need to get a new job to pay mah bills. KISHI-SENPAI SEND ME SOME MONEY IM BROKE DAMN IT!**

* * *

><p>Konohagakure no Sato has always been a village of resiliency. Built upon the backs of shinobi who were said to be gods in their own right Konoha has learned to endure when faced with the loss of their leader.<p>

Though enduring does not always mean that they did not suffer, feel pain or anguish, at the loss of their beloved Hokage.

In the aftermath of Itachi's betrayal it seemed to outsiders that Konoha was at its weakest since the Kyuubi attack.

With the loss of about 75% of the Uchiha Clan fighting force, their SS-Rank Hokage, Shimura Danzo, and one of their prodigies Uchiha Shisui, things were looking dire.

Kumo was sending scouting parties to probe their defenses and it seemed there was an increase in border presence between Kumo and the Land of Hot Springs, already having an allegiance in place with the Land of Frost.

With all of these issues also came the custody of one Uzumaki Naruto.

During the emergency council meeting that followed the death of Minato the Elders believed it was time to begin training the boy as an ultimate weapon to use in case Kumo decided to attack. It was common knowledge that they already had one Jinchurriki with perfect control over his bijuu, and they could never willingly go to war against a nation with such a powerful army killer.

This idea was quickly put to rest by the Godaime, Senju Tsunade, who had become overly fond of the boy as she spent most of her time away from the hospital watching over him, when she pulled out Minato's last will and testament.

Normally, this would be handled by the deceased's family. Seeing as he had no family left, it was left to the council to see his final wishes done.

The first was the custody of Naruto being granted to Tsunade, with her being named Godmother and Jiraiya being named Godfather.

There was little outcry to this arrangement seeing as most believed their jinchuuriki should be nearest their most powerful ninja at all times.

The second was the boy's true heritage.

This came with blood samples from both Minato and Naruto for Tsunade and the medic-nins to confirm along with instructions for Jiraiya on how to remove the seal placed upon Naruto's neck.

When this particular piece of news was dropped there was first silence, then confusion and anger. Some of the civilian council members believed that the boy had somehow influenced the Yondaime through the Demon to claim him as his son. that it was all a trick to get them to believe that Naruto was the son and heir of the Namikaze fortune. This however was put to rest as Tsunade immediately sent for the blood provided to be tested. When the results came back it was a near perfect match 99.99% There could be no doubt.

With this information there was a greater push for the boy to be weaponized by the Elders, but without Danzo the argument held little substance as there currently was no one with the ability to train the boy to such emotionless degree aside from Hiruzen.

This information was kept at SS-Rank and required seals to be placed upon every single council member present including the ANBU guards. Similar to Danzo's ROOT seal, this seal prohibited the council members to speak about Naruto's heritage. By adding the seal to the back of every council members neck the seal integrated itself with their cerebral cortex, causing a temporary 'package loss' when the synpases in the brain communicated the action of speaking about the boys heritage.

This seal was placed by Jiraiya who had raced back home to find his beloved pupil dead and ashamed at the fact that he never knew he had a godson.

The third was the transfer of all assets to his son, effective once he achieved the rank of Chunin.

Again, no one could dispute Minato's wishes as Naruto's inheritance was protected by law.

In a second scroll sealed within Minato's will, were the details regarding Uchiha Shisui and Uchiha Itachi's missions. This was protected with a blood seal coded to Tsunade's blood and would burn up about 5 minutes after the original seal was broken through counterintelligence measures. It was Hokage eyes only.

With this new information Tsunade made the push to have Uchiha Sasuke remanded into her custody after the extreme psychological attack by his older brother. Citing that she was the only medic capable of healing the extensive damage of having seen his family butchered before his eyes.

This trauma was further extended when he returned home to find his mother with a dagger through the heart sending the boy into a catatonic state once again.

The final nail in the coffin everyone in the room held a great pity for the boy, having endured more than any boy his age should ever have to witness.

* * *

><p><strong>Days Later<strong>

Once the commotion throughout the village quieted down, they began to mourn.

Minato's funeral service had lasted for three days.

On the first day the village came together for the viewing of their hero. Wrapped in his signature 'Yondaine' cloak embalzoned with fire, he was set on a red velvet silk bed with his white and red Kage hat placed just above his head, the kanji for Fire prominently displayed for everyone to see. There were similar viewing platforms around him which included the bodies of Uchiha Fugaku, and Uchiha Shisui. The rest of the Uchiha bodies were receiving private ceremony within the clan compound.

On the second day the funeral procession began leading from the Hokage Tower and ending in Sector 3 where the funeral service was being held within the temple located near the cemetery. Upon entering the temple there were 3 funeral pyres placed, the largest of which was draped with white sheets the Kanji for 'Yondaime' while the other two were draped with the words for 'Fire' along all 4 sides.

Once the bodies were placed upon the pyres the service was held by the Sandaime with shinobi forming ranks around the pyre. Finishing the service the shinobi and nobles present within the temple began to drop white flowers into the pyres before saying their final goodbyes.

Stepping forward two Uchiha clan members took their places in front of the pyres of their fallen brothers. As Hiruzen stepped forward to stand in front of Minato's pyre, he stopped when he sensed someone else moving towards the pyre. Looking to his left he noticed young Uzumaki Naruto standing in front of his father's pyre with a lit funeral torch in his hands. Tears streaming down his face, a determined look in his eyes as he took his place alongside the Uchiha clan members.

In this moment no one spoke, everyone stunned by the boy's actions. Murmurs could be heard going throughout the civilians, they were outraged that the boy would be doing the funeral rites.

'Only family can do so?'

'What was the Sandaime thinking allowing the demon this honor?'

These were some of the whispers being spread throughout the restless crowd. All of this went unnoticed by the young boy, he only had eyes for his now deceased father. He was sworn to secrecy to never tell anyone who his father was, but that didn't matter to him. He didn't need anyone else to know who his father was, he held his father everywhere he went within his heart.

Looking back towards Kakashi who had been consoling him moments ago he gave him a thumbs up which Kakashi towards the Uchiha they shared a look, a silent understanding acknowledged all 3 turned towards the pyre.

The Uchiha went first finishing their hand seals for a Katon Jutsu of a respectable size and lit the pyres in a blaze of glory.

**Katon Gōkakyū no Jutsu!**

Turning towards the young Uzumaki they waited for him to begin walking to the pyre to drop the torch and end the ceremony but were shocked when he dropped his torch and began a set of familiar hand seals finishing on the traditional Tiger hand seal. Quickly jumping back they made it out of range before the boy shouted,

**Katon: Karyū Endan!**

Naruto produced a long stream of fire twice the size of the original Katon jutsu's used by the Uchiha, instantly lighting the pyre.

Upon finishing shocked looks could be seen throughout the shinobi ranks, a boy of 7 had just used a B-Rank technique! Hiruzen sharply looked over to Kakashi only to see his signature eye-smile.

Finishing the technique, Naruto watched as the smoke rose from the lit pyre,

'Good-bye Tou-san'

A faint smile could be seen on the boys lips as he fell forward allowing the darkness of his subconscious mind take over.

* * *

><p><strong>One Week Later<strong>

Sitting in her new office Tsunade sat intently staring at the picture of the Yondaime Hokage which was now framed and placed on the wall to the right of the desk.

She had just finished the paper work that legally signed Naruto and Sasuke into her custody.

Tsunade never intended to have kids after Dan's death, it was never a thought that crossed her mind. Ever since she returned to the village she couldn't help, but regret the decision. Especially since she thought she wasn't going to get the chance to experience her child going to school for the first time, or having to deal with the first dates and romances.

Now though it seemed as though fate had intervened once again in the form of Naruto and Sasuke.

She had loved Naruto from the moment he told her of his dream. He was so much like Nawaki and Dan it hurt to even look at him sometimes. She saw herself as more of a grandmother to the boy, he could have easily been mistaken as Nawaki's son for all his enthusiasm the young boy held within him. With his strength of conviction he might have even been though of as Dan's son if they had the chance to ever have children.

As for Sasuke, well she didn't really know the boy. She only ever heard stories from Naruto.

He seemed like a kind boy always seemingly in the shadow of his brother, but now? She wouldn't be sure what kind of boy he would be after so much trauma. He had only just woken up from whatever genjutsu Itachi cast upon him, only to find his mother dead on the floor of his family home.

The scars the poor boy suffered would never be erased, but maybe she could help make it easier to deal with the memories by speaking with Inoichi. There could be blocks possibly placed upon the boy in order to keep any nightmares at bay.

With a sigh Tsunade stood, gathered all her paperwork and began to move towards the door.

Of course there was also the matter of her grandniece, Ino.

She was the reason she even returned to this village. Hearing she had one last family member in Ino's mother and her grandniece made her very protective, she immediately rushed home at the news. She would not allow more of her family to leave her.

The girl was a natural at medical and mental theory. Of course it took a bit of time before she got serious about her training. Tsunade had to beat the fan girl out of the her by putting on a display of what a true kunoichi could do. After that it was easy.

Once her chakra control reached the appropriate level they would begin rudimentary medical training.

'Hmmm Ino, Naruto and Sasuke... It seems like I have myself a cute little genin team in the making,' thought the busty kage as she closed the door behind her.

'Its been a while since this village saw a team on par with the legendary Sannin, it was about time the next generation stepped up to the call. The last of the Uzumaki clan, the last of the Senju clan, and an Uchiha. It seems this village's future is bright...'

* * *

><p><strong>1 Year Later<strong>

"You're not gunna wear _that_ to the first day of the Academy are you?" asked the eight year old platinum blonde girl. She was currently sitting on a bed wearing a purple dress with a yellow obi tied around her waist. The Yamanaka Clan symbol present on both of her shoulders.

Looking over at the blonde haired, blue eye'd boy in front of her she continued.

"You stand out like a sore thumb, who the heck wears orange?"

"Waddya mean? Orange is the greatest color in the world!" replied the Uzumaki. He was currently dressed in an orange jumpsuit with blue lining the shoulder area and the bottom of the jacket. His pants finished his ensemble making him resemble something similar to an orange highlighter. On his face he had taken to imitating his nii-san by wearing a black mask and a pair of goggles resting on his forehead.

"Orange isn't a color a ninja should be wearing," continued the Yamanaka, "you have to blend in with your surroundings. Be subtle. Right Sasuke-kun?"

At that moment a Sasuke, who had been passing by, stopped and looked over at Naruto

"Hn, you look like a traffic cone dobe. At least target practice with Tsunade-sama will be easier now."

Finishing he continued on his way towards the kitchen, missing the withering glare sent his way by Naruto. Sasuke was dressed in his typical high collared black shirt with a pair of white shorts.

Ino had tried to stifle a laugh and failed miserably at it.

Huffing angrily he began,

"Well you're wearing purple! What are you trying to blend in with huh? Vio...viola... FLOWERS?!"

Amused she began,

"They're pronounced violets Naru-baka. Besides purple is the color of royalty, and after all I am a princess," she said with a wink. "Orange is the color of "gut feelings" and right now my gut is feeling really sick."

Picking up a pair of pants and running her hands over them she continued,

"Where did you find these clothes anyway? They look like they came out of the trash."

Quickly looking away as a blush adorned his face,

"They are..."

A shocked look came across the girls face not understanding why her aunt let him wear clothes out of the trash.

"Why didn't Tsunade-obasan help you?"

"Well baa-chan said I could pick out whatever clothes I wanted, but even with her being the Hokage the villagers still won't sell me anything. They just kick me out of their stores," he grumbled.

Quickly getting up from the bed she made her way to the desk in the corner of his room and pulled out a pair of scissors. A gleam in her eyes as she made her way over to Naruto.

"Well then I'll just have to give you a makeover then"

* * *

><p>When they stepped out of Naruto's room, it was like he was a new kid.<p>

Stubbornly sticking to at least some orange, Ino let Naruto keep his jacket, with of course, some major adjustments.

First, she began by cutting off the high collared portion of Naruto's jacket, working her way down to the sleeves, taking those off as well. Underneath he now wore a tight fitting blue t-shirt with a mesh shirt underneath as opposed to his usual black and red Uzumaki clan shirt, leaving his jacket open exposing his lean, healthy body.

His pants were gone. Replaced instead by blue shorts similar to Sasuke's. His feet were covered by a pair of blue, open toed sandals, and he wore orange socks with a red Uzumaki swirl emblazoned on the front.

The final piece was on his face, a blue mask covered his whisker marks and mouth. He had his goggles placed on around his neck now instead of his head, two blonde bangs framing his face as it was no longer being held up by the goggles.

He could barely contain his excitement as he looked into the mirror.

"I look awesome dattebayo!"

An amused Ino looked on as he jumped around looking himself in the mirror.

Sasuke just grunted his approval making his way to the door.

"Thank you Ino-chan!I love it! I promise I will never call you Ino-pig again!"

An eerie silence permeated the room as Naruto slowly realized what he had just said.

Now some people would say that Naruto was stupid, but that wasn't the case. He's just easily excitable and sometimes very dense.

Very, very dense.

This was one of those times.

Turning, he made slowly made eye contact with Sasuke, an unspoken understanding passed between them as they booked it out of the house.

Behind Ino appeared a purple hannya mask.

**"Narutoooooo!"**

* * *

><p><strong>Shinobi Academy<strong>

Arriving at the doors of the Academy the three newly minted shinobi students stepped forward to walk through the doors. Two of them walked a bit more gingerly than one might expect from new recruits.

Both Naruto and Sasuke were scuffed up and dirty with what looked like scratches from a wild feline of some sort on their cheeks.

Apparently Sasuke took punishment by 'association' as Ino put it.

'Its true what Shikamaru says, women are troublesome,' thought the young Uchiha as they walked towards their classroom.

Upon entering they saw familiar faces. It seemed like all their friends had graduated into the Shinobi Academy.

In one row sat Nara Shikamaru and Akimichi Choji, the former sleeping with his head on the desk and the latter munching on a bag of salted chips.

In another row in front sat Haruno Sakura, her pink hair standing out strongly and Aburame Shino, his thick coat and dark sunglasses made him identifiable from blocks away. Both were usually very quiet, seemed to be in earnest conversation about something... logical?

In the adjacent row sat Inuzuka Kiba, his cheeks adorned with the typical red markings of the Inuzuka clan and Hyuuga Hinata, her pale white eyes standing out among the sea of black and blue.

Throughout the classroom were other civilian children who seemed to have passed the exam into the Academy.

Having seen their friends they quickly made there way over taking the only available seats left.

As he walked past Naruto noticed there were a lot of glares sent his way. It seemed the parents didn't fail to mention who their kids shouldn't be playing with.

It made him sad, but more determined all the same. He would earn their acknowledgement, and prove to them that he wasn't a demon. He kept up his fake smile though, if anything for his friends. He did not want to burden them with his problems, they had plenty of things to worry about.

Only Sasuke seemed to notice whenever he put on a fake smile.

They shared the same pain after all.

The pain of having everything you loved in your life taken away, it was because of this reason that they were able to become friends. Bonding over their pain while living together with Tsunade, and having promised each other to take revenge on the man who had left them both with almost nothing.

Uchiha Itachi

That name was taboo in their household, and usually led to a brooding duo that would make My Chemical Romance seem normal.

The difference between the boys was how they handled their pain publicly. Neither boy burdened others with their problems

However, Naruto chose to become extroverted. Putting on his fake smiles and making everything seem alright. He was the bright light that made everyone feel comfortable, like they belonged together.

While Sasuke became more introverted, he would become highly agitated by the actions of his friends and those that took pity on his situation. He hated the pity most of all because it came from people who he believed could never understand what it was like to lose everything. Sasuke was the shadow that kept everyone anchored to reality.

Whenever they looked at Sasuke the cold, hard truth of the Shinobi world seemed to smack them in the face like a splash of chilled water.

This was the show they displayed for their friends, and they were none the wiser.

Once they arrived at their seats, there was a puff of smoke at the front of the room as a number of various teachers had arrived via shunshin.

At the head of the all stood the Sandaime Hokage who , in essence, was the principal of the Academy after Minato's reform.

Everyone quieted down as he began to speak,

"Welcome, to the first day of the rest of your lives, my young shinobi. Today marks the day you officially begin your ninja studies. I urge you all to maximize your efforts, and ensure that the Will of Fire continues to burn strong, for it is within each and everyone of you here that the Will of Fire burns. It cannot be destroyed, only transferred on to the new generation."

Pausing to take a look at his new charges, he cleared his throat and continued,

"Now many of you maybe confused as to why there are so many instructors present for your first class."

A murmur of agreement passed throughout the room.

"These instructors will at some point in time be your instructors in the various shinobi arts. Here at the Academy we have a strict structure that we will stick to in order to produce the best shinobi possible. Take a look around this room and realize this. Only about half of you will make it to graduation, and out of that half maybe a third of you will move on to make it onto the registered team of 3 under a Jounin Instructor. Everyone else will either be remanded to the Academy, or sent to specialized divisions such as the Medic Corps or the Research and Development Department. "

At this revelation, everyone in the room seemed to get a bit more nervous. No one had mentioned anything about the pass/fail rate back at the Civilian Academy. Unease spread throughout the ranks of students, but it was quickly put to rest when one loudmouth began to shout,

"I don't care what you say Jiji, I'm gunna get on one of those teams and I'm gunna the rookie of the year for this class, dattebayo!"

Everyone turned to look at Naruto who was standing with his arms crossed while he shot the Sandaime a defiant glare.

Hiruzen could only chuckle

"It seems like you're going to make things a lot more interesting Naruto-kun. Please take a seat while I finish explaining what you all will be doing."

With an ear-splitting grin, he began to scratch the back of his head as he sat down as he caught a couple of glares from some of the clanless shinobi and some smiles from his friends.

Continuing with his speech Hiruzen began once again,

"Now during your 4 years here your curriculum will be split into several difference parts.

During your first year you will focus on Battle Tactics used during the previous wars as well as familiarizing yourself with the more famous battles. You will also be focusing mainly on the academy level **Taijutsu(Body Techniques)** katas along with working on your **Bukijutsu(Weapons Techniques)** and the basic forms of chakra control.

Your Instructors for this year will be Umino Iruka, Touji Mizuki, and Higarashi Muramasa

During your second year we will introduce **Ninjutsu(Ninja Techniques)** and **Genjutsu(Illusionary techniques)** training as well as identifying everyone's elemental affinities. During the second half of the year you will have the choice to choose Ninjutsu or Genjutsu specific classes.

Your Instructors for this year will include myself and Kurama Yakumo

During your Third and Fourth years we will be including the ability to choose two electives from a list. The two that you pick will be included with your Nin/Gen jutsu's as your specializations for when you graduate. The list you will choose from is the following:

Genjutus(for those who chose Ninjutsu in Year 2) taught by Kurama Yakumo

Ninjutusu(for those who chose Genjutsu in year 2) taught by Myself

**Iryo-Ninjutsu(Medical Ninja Techniques) **taught by Kato Shizune

**Fuinjutsu(Sealing Techniques) **taught by Uzumaki Honoka

Advanced Bukijutsu this includes **Kenjutsu(Sword Techniques) **and **Bojutsu(Staff techniques)** taught by Higarashi Masamura"

During this time Hiruzen spoke slowly, each teacher stepping forward as their name was called introducing themselves. Hiruzen was pleased to see everyone was taking notes, including Naruto who did not seem to find this information to be boring.

'It seems hes taking this seriously,' Sarutobi thought. ' I can only hope Minato's Will of Fire passed on to his son. If it did, I can expect great things out of you Naruto-kun.'

With this new year, there could only be improvement on what would be an impressive graduating class, 8 clan heirs. Hiruzen could not ask for a better crop of students.

* * *

><p><strong>Alright! <strong>

**Please leave a review, let me know what you think. **

**Love, Hate, Kill Me? **

**It rives me crazy not knowing what you guys think, my poor heart won't be able to take the stress.**

**Anyway dialogue is most likely my weakest point so I'm working on improving it, or maybe hopefully I'm improving on it now? Eh, its paradoxical. I feel like my dialogue in this chapter was extremely weak. Not entirely satisfied. **

**Til' next time!**


	6. Academy Days II: Bonds

**Hey guys! Its been a while I apologize been trying to get this whole full-time job thing down, but here it is! **

**Had one big set-back being that 3000 words were deleted earlier today while I was writing so I was pretty bummed about that.**

**In other news... ITS OVER, AFTER 15 YEARS ITS OVER! I've updated my profile to reflect how I truly feel about some revelations, I ain't spoiling for those anime only guys n gals.**

**Thanks for the continue support its always appreciated. If you have any questions don't hesitate to PM me, I love interacting with my readers. I write for both of us and your continued support helps me know that its not in vain. **

**Reviews:**

NaggotFigger: I won't be confirming pairings probably until part 2, for right now they're kids ya know. We all had our crushes but we got over them as me grew up

LordTicky: ;) They're gunna be a sexy team for sure

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**Thanks again to all of you who Reviewed/Followed/Favorited your support is what motivates me to put out these chapters!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any characters of the Naruto-verse. Maybe I'll slap bet Kishi on the next Super Bowl champions and find that his weakness is being slapped and he'll grow so afraid of the inevitable slap that he'll give me the rights to Naruto... hey a man can dream can't he?**

* * *

><p><strong>Year 1 - Naruto<strong>

**Academy**

As the year progressed Naruto excelled in his studies. With all the new changes to the school system and the Sandaime in charge, there was minimal chance that he would receive poor instruction.

He was currently sitting in the middle of one of Iruka-sensei's history classes.

Naruto found history to be extremely boring. The only interesting part was when they talked about the all the Hokage and how they helped in the wars, other than that he just didn't really care.

He usually just fell asleep like Shikamaru but that just ended with him getting yelled at by Iruka-sensei. It didn't help that when he wasn't napping in history class he was trying to pull some sort of prank on his friends.

There was one time he was even able to sneak a frog into Ino's bag without her knowing.

When it was time for lunch she reached down and screamed so loud the Sandaime appeared. Naruto and all the guys were roaring with laughter in the back. It was worth the beating he got when they got outside to lunch.

He sighed as Iruka continued droning on about the importance of proper equipment care, or something like that.

Bored, Naruto thought forward to their upcoming taijutsu spars.

Naruto found that he was ahead of most of his class in taijutsu thanks to his father's training during his younger years. He introduced him to the basic katas of the style he personally created to work with this speed. The style mainly took advantage of speed and the use of kicks as the primary form of non-weapon combat.

Currently he was only behind Hinata and Sasuke in terms of taijutsu, but that was due to their doujutsu

Whenever he would spar against Hinata her byakugan wouldn't allow for him to take advantage of his speed to get into her blind spots. Not too mention she could easily disable him with the quick jyuuken strkes of the Gentle Fist style when he was exposed.

It was a similar result against Sasuke.

He could read every single move he made because of his sharingan.

There was a time when Naruto would beat Sasuke using sheer speed, but once Sasuke's speed increased enough to predict and block his strikes, naruto was at a complete disadvantage in a straight taijutsu fight.

The most creative way he found to beat him was to kick up dust and use it to mask his movements, but Naruto felt cheap using a trick instead of pure skill. All in all they were even in their total match ups, but Sasuke was pulling slightly ahead.

Once again he started drifting into playground memories until Iruka-sensei mentioned chakra.

The minute he heard the word chakra he bolted upright like a cat, taking in everyone of his sensei's words.

"That's right kids, since we're in the last third of our semester its time to begin Chakra control training. Now before I explain the exercises we will be learning, could someone please explain to the class what Chakra is?"

15 different hands went up at once, but no one's hand beat the speed of one Haruno Sakura.

Naruto's eyes turned towards Sakura.

Sakura was from a civilian family, who didn't have much exposure to the "shinobi" way of life. Even still she was incredibly book smart, if a little self-conscious about her forehead.

If it wasn't for Ino she would still probably be shy, although she couldn't beat the fangirl tendencies out of her, even when she met Tsunade. She would go bat shit crazy over Sasuke and would find herself butting heads with Ino when she would spend too much time training with "her" Sasuke-kun.

Unfortunately, she was also his secret crush.

Her hair vaguely reminded him of the picture of his mother and her, at times, boisterous attitude kept him on his toes. He would always have to dodge an angry fist whenever he pulled a prank on her or her friends. With all his speed he rarely escaped unscathed.

Of course this didn't go unnoticed by Ino in all their time together and she would mercilessly tease him for his crush, but he didn't really care.

He was brought out of his musings as Iruka called on her.

Standing she began,

"Chakra is the mixture of spiritual and physical energy channeled through the chakra pathway to create the techniques used by shinobi," she explained, "The body contains 361 points that directly link to the chakra coils, or pathways, in the body which can be closed or opened using various techniques."

Having finished she sat down with a satisfied grin on her face as she saw Iruka-sensei's shocked face.

Naruto snickered in his corner.

"T-that was perfect thank you Sakura," praised Iruka.

Controlling his emotions he continued.

"Now class the exercise we will be learning today is the leaf clinging exercise. You will all be given 1 leaf each. The objective is to make the leaf cling to your forehead only using your chakra for about 30 seconds like this."

Having finished Iruka placed the leaf on his forehead and removed his hands. The leaf stuck to the surface of his forehead cleanly.

After 30 seconds Iruka stopped the flow of chakra and allowed the leaf to fall back into his hand.

For most of the civilian students this was the coolest thing in the world. The clan kids however had already seen and done the leaf clinging exercise so it put them at a somewhat unfair advantage.

Having foreseen this issue however Iruka continued,

"For those of you have already learned this technique from your families and friends, we will move to a more advanced technique. Once you've shown me you can hold it for a full 30 seconds I will give you 5 leaves each and expect you to stick them onto each of your fingers on a single hand for 30 seconds. To advance from this technique you must make each leaf rotate clockwise and/or counterclockwise for 30 seconds."

Seeing the confused looks on the faces of all his kids gave him a sense of satisfaction. It was always nice to teach something new to his students. One of the civilian students looked disgruntled with the whole exercise seeing it as pointless as he began voicing his displeasure.

"But whats the point of this stupid leaf exercise. I want to blow stuff up with fireballs not make stupid leaves stick to my forehead or spin," said the boy.

Iruka answered,

"The point is to be able to control your chakra so that you can "blow stuff up with fireballs." If you can't control your chakra how are you going to control the fireball. If you put too much chakra then you'll just pass out from exhaustion. If you put too little chakra then the technique won't even work. This is why we train to control the chakra within our bodies," he chastised.

"Now lets begin."

* * *

><p><strong>Konoha Outskirts<strong>

After class had finished Naruto found himself walking down a familiar path towards his favorite spot, a lake on the outskirts of the village with a nice pier where you could watch a perfect setting sun.

Sasuke had left the academy to apparently go train on his own and Ino had gone to her family's shop to help her mom tend to the flowers.

As he walked down the street, he took in the peaceful ambience of Konoha. There was a calming factor that the village instilled on him and gave him peace.

His only issues came with the villagers. They were still cold towards him and treated him with disdain. There were times when Naruto feared for his life whenever he was walking alone at night and some of the more violent villagers would gather in the dark, dim corners waiting for him.

It was harder now that the seal on his neck had been removed.

The villagers saw him as a 'mockery' of their beloved Yondaime Hokage. Naruto would always hear mutterings of 'demon imposter' when he would walk through some of the civilian districts.

Scowling as he walked down the street, he wished he could reveal his heritage to the villagers and make them see that he wasn't a monster. He probably would have done it if he hadn't been forbidden by the Hokage on the night his life changed...

_Flashback_

_Within the Hokage's Office stood a young red-haired boy, specks of blood could be seen on his clothes. Dried tear lines could be seen on his face as he tightly clutched what seemed to be a framed photograph, to his chest. Confusion marred his expression, mingled with a bit of anger and overwhelmed with a sadness that would break the hearts of any who looked upon the boy. _

_In the room with him was the Sandaime, who was currently standing, dressed in a white garb with a green vest and a mesh shirt visible underneath. Seated next to him was the current Hokage, Senju Tsunade. She was dressed in her traditional grey kimono tied with a blue-gray ob, a green haori with the kanji for 'gamble' was visible on her back covered her kimono._

_Also within the room was a twenty year-old Kakashi, newly maid ANBU-Captain. He was dressed in traditional ANBU gear, black pants/shirt covered with the standard silver breast/shin/arm guards. His shoulders were bare showing his ANBU tattoo and his face was covered with a mask depicting a dog. His gravity defying silver hair was the only giveaway of his identity, his normally care-free attitude replaced with the professionalism that only ANBU could convey. _

_"Naruto," called the older kage, "look at me."_

_He shifted his gaze towards the Sandaime without a word, clutching his photo tighter._

_Hiruzen's face tightened upon seeing the pain in the boy's eyes, but he steeled his resolve. _

_"Did Minato tell you anything before he passed?"_

_Willing himself to speak, he only muttered one, barely audible, word._

_"Yes"_

_"What did he say?" replied Hiruzen_

_At this point Naruto was no longer looking at the people in the room, his blank stare just saw out into the distance as his thought over the dying words of his father. _

_He spoke, but his words came out with a monotony they identified only with ROOT agents._

_"He told me, he was my father"_

_Shock was evident on their faces as Naruto extended his arms and showed them the picture he held in his clutches, revealing a picture of a smiling Minato and Kushina, her belly large with pregnancy and Minato holding her, not like a friend, but like a lover._

_'Minato...' thought the Sandaime, ' I knew you were keeping something hidden about the boy, but I could have never guessed it was this.'_

_The pindrop silence in the room was broken by a single word coming from the young Uzumaki,_

_"Why?"_

_Sharing a look with each other Hiruzen and Tsunade came to a silent agreement,_

_'It's time we tell him about the Kyuubi,' thought Tsunade._

_She began by explaining what his father did in the 3rd World War. Both she and the Sandaime speculated that with the amount of enemies his father had it must have been dangerous to father a son and did anything he could to keep that information out of the enemies hands. _

_Then they began to explain what happened on the night the Kyuubi attacked. Telling him how it was impossible for a beast that great to be killed by his mother and how she sacrificed her life to save the village by placing the burden of their protection on the shoulders of a baby not even a day old._

_They finished by forbidding him from revealing his heritage to anybody until he was strong enough to take care of himself._

_Having finished both kages were now waiting for the boy to reply, to say anything about the entire exchange, but it seemed that it would not be so. He spoke no words. _

_As troubling as this was there was nothing they could do except send Kakashi with him to escort him home and guard him while he slept._

_Through this entire exchange Naruto was silent. _

_He didn't speak a word the rest of the night_

_Flashback End_

Remembering that night brought phantom pains to his heart.

From that night he had sworn, to himself, on the way home that he would make the village acknowledge him for what he was, a person, not a demon. He would make his parents proud of him by protecting their home, but he would never be able to let go of the fire of hate that burned within him when he thought of how the villagers shunned and hated him.

That fire always grew stronger whenever he would think of his father's murderer.

Having continued to walk aimlessly towards his destination, he failed to recognize that there was someone already at his usual spot on the pier. His anger having clouded his spacial perception.

Taking a closer look he noticed a familiar duck end haircut.

It seemed as though Sasuke had not yet noticed him, but what Naruto did notice as he got closer was the glint of a reflection of light on the young Uchiha's face...

* * *

><p><strong>Year 1 - Sasuke<strong>

**The Lake**

Sasuke had left the academy and headed directly to a lake on the outskirts of the village near the Uchiha clan compound. It was his favorite spot ever since the massacre, he used it to escape the rest of the world. It was also where he went to practice one of his more favored skills.

It had been a few weeks since the last time he practiced his fireball technique.

The lake was where he first learned the technique with his father. It was the first time that Sasuke's father had given him any attention, and he couldn't have been more grateful for the opportunity to prove to his father that he could surpass his older brother.

_Flashback_

_It was mid-morning on a beautiful summer day, when a middle-aged, black haired man stepped forward onto a wooden pier situated on a lake just on the outskirts of the village. Directly behind him trailed an eager 7 year old boy, a grin from ear to ear plastered on his face at the thought that his father was giving him private training._

_This lake was a fair distance away from the clan compound, but it provided a good area for practice on what would be a special day for young Uchiha Sasuke._

_Stepping forward onto the pier, looking out towards the horizon, the elder of the two began to weave his hand seals. When he fnished he brought his hands up to his mouth,_

_**_Tiger → Ram → Monkey → Boar → Horse → Tiger_**_

_"**Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu( Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique)!**"_

_A large red fireball about the size of a small house was emitted from the man's mouth._

_Behind him stood the young Uchiha, his eyes widened in awe as he watched his father emit the ball of flame using his chakra. The boy shook with barely contained anticipation. It took all his will-power to shout in amazement._

_Having stopped the flow of chakra, the elder Uchiha slowly turned towards his son, his face impassive as he spoke,_

_"Sasuke, today you will be learning our clan's most basic ninjutsu. Mastery of it and the **katon(fire)** element is proof you are worthy of being an Uchiha Shinobi. The seals are how I showed you. Gather your chakra and stop it in your chest. Then, release it all at once._

_"Hai!" responded the young Uchiha_

_Running forward, _

_'I must make tou-san proud!'_

_He began his own set of seals,_

_**Tiger → Ram → Monkey → Boar → Horse → Tiger**_

_"**Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu( Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique)!**"_

_From his mouth came a ball of fire no larger than a soccer ball. His father's face impassive and his watched his youngest son cut off his chakra flow, stopping the technique. _

_Before Sasuke could turn his father spoke,_

_"As I thought, you can't do it as well as Itachi." He turned to walk away and gave him his final words, "perhaps it was still to early..."_

_As he watched his fatehr walk away Sasuke's heart dropped to his stomach.  
><em>

_"Tou-sama isn't proud of me... I'll never be as good as Itachi..." he thought. As he watched his disappointed father walked away, he came to the conclusion that if his dad would never be proud of him unless he made him proud of him._

_Over the next week Sasuke spent all his time at the lake practicing until he could no longer stand under his own power,burn marks from the fire evident around his mouth._

_ He used his fathers words as his motivation to continue day after day, night after night. He wouldn't rest until he would **make** his father proud of him. _

_Having mastered the technique he convinced him father to join him at the lake one last time to prove to him that he could make him proud. Arriving at the wooden pier one last time he stepped forward and began his seals,_

_**Tiger → Ram → Monkey → Boar → Horse → Tiger**_

_"**Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu( Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique)!**"_

_This time instead of a soccer ball-sized fireball he emitted a fireball comparable to his father's, a fear that was unheard of for one so young. His father's face remained impassive, a hint of shock evident in his eyes that could only be seen by those who knew the stoic Uchiha best. _

_Having watched his son finish his technique he turned, walking away from his youngest son, his sandals clacking upon the wooden planks._

_Sasuke watched as his father walked away from him, his efforts wasted as he hung his head. _

_Hearing the clacking of sandals on wood stop Sasuke lifted his head slightly as his father spoke,_

_"Indeed, you are my son," he said as he continued to walk away.._

_Flashback Ended_

Sasuke was always proud of that day, but remembering the family he lost, the future he no longer had with them always brought up an unwanted pain and agony that gripped his heart and never let go.

Taking notice that someone was behind him Sasuke quickly wiped his face before turning and put on his usual cold, brooder persona.

Anger began to take place of the shock he was feeling, this was where he went to be alone and let loose. Where he could openly mourn his family and get away from all of the people, who would look down on him with pity. How dare they come and invade his privacy once again. It would never stop.

True, his whole clan wasn't gone,but it didn't stop the other clan members or villagers from putting him on a pedestal.

The clan saw him as a the road to redemption for their clan, their last great 'prodigy' and the villagers saw him as a lost little boy who needed to be protected at all time.

Everybody saw him as someone to protect, and pamper.

Everybody was wrong.

All he ever needed was his family's acknowledgement. A word of praise from his father, and his mother's love and care was what he desired most. They were things from his childhood that he would never receive again.

The only thing that was left from his childhood was the insatiable need to surpass his older brother. He held on to this final piece of his childhood and would not let go.

His goal was set.

He would surpass his brother, and grow stronger. He would get revenge for his mother and father, and retrieve the life that was indiscriminately stolen from cutting out the last vestige of his past, he would move on to a better future. That was why he clung to his revenge. He focused so dearly on it. Without his revenge...

He was nothing

Turning to face the newcomer, Sasuke quickly identified the blonde shock of hair that could only belong to one Uzumaki Naruto.

His anger faded, slightly.

In Sasuke's mind, Naruto, was the only person who identified with his pain. He grew up not knowing the love of his parents. Only having his uncle, the Yondaime, to raise him and then having him taken away by the same man that took away Sasuke's family.

In a way it seemed as though their fates were connected.

As loath as he was to admit it, Sasuke was envious of the blond, not for his strength, but for his courage. No matter what he would always keep a smile on his face and try to please those around him. He knew it was a fake smile. He could see underneath it, but that was the point. If you acted like everything was fine then the village would be none the wiser.

He just wished he could do the same, but he didn't have the strength of mind to put himself into the situation to create those bonds once more.

He had convinced himself that those bonds would make him weak, there was a time before the death of his family that he believed in those bonds.

Realizing that Naruto had sat down next to him he grunted and looked away, but said nothing to blond as he sat down without a word.

Staring out at the setting sun he was enjoying the silence until Naruto spoke,

"You know, you dont have to be alone,I can help you" he began slowly. "I understand what the pain you're feeling, the anger in your heart."

Sasuke continued to stare out into the horizon as he listened to Naruto's words.

Naruto let out a terse laugh,

"If you think about it, in a way we're kinda like brothers, dattebayo"

Sasuke's breath hitched slightly.

Brothers?

The blonde didn't offer any other explanation after his declaration. He continued to look out as the sky transformed into an array of reds and oranges. In the end Sasuke's curiosity got the better of him. He found the words flowing from his mouth before he could stop himself,

"What do you mean?"

Naruto turned to look at the black-haired Uchiha, a fire burned behind his eyes as he spoke,

"We share the same pain... the same hope...the same ambition..." he said his voice growing more determined.

Taking in his words Sasuke took a closer look at the blonde. The look of determination on his face reminded him of simpler times.

He thought back to before the massacre when Naruto, Shikamaru and him would play games and train together. He was reminded of their silly arguments over nonsensical things. Then he was reminded of the massacre itself and all that he lost.

Sasuke gave a small smirk before replying to the easily excitable blonde,

"Hn"

Upon hearing his response an ear-splitting grin appeared on his face as he turned back to watch the setting sun.

Perhaps it was possible for Sasuke to create bonds again...

* * *

><p><strong>Year 2 <strong>

Classes at the academy had progressed well. Having entered their second year of studies most of the students were excited to finally be learning what they considered to be the "cool stuff."

The second year mainly focused on finding a pertinent path for the students while giving them knowledge about the various basic aspects of the ninja arts. The Sandaime's training program centered around knowledge of all the arts.

Being known throughout the elemental nations as "The Professor" could attest to the power behind such knowledge.

They would progress through basic ninjutsu and ninjutsu theory as well as finding the element with which they are attuned. Along with the **N****injutsu(Ninja Techniques)** would be be genjutsu theory, identifying and dispelling **G****enjutsu(Illusionary Techniques)** and of course finding the students to which the art appealed the most too.

Along the second half of the semester the class would be split giving focus to learning each craft all the while fine tuning their **Bukijutsu(Weapons Techniques) **and **T****aijutsu(Body Techniques)**.**  
><strong>

Having just started the school year they were currently training to complete the three shinobi basics:

**Kawarimi no Jutsu(Substitution Technique)**

**Henge no Jutsu(Transformation Technique)**

**Bunshin no Jutsu(Clone Technique)**

These weren't the flashiest techniques, nor were they the strongest techniques, but if you did not have some sort of mastery over them you were as good as dead in the shinobi world.

Without the use of the **kawarimi** the strongest shinobi would fall to any debilitating attack they could not avoid.

Likewise with a strong **henge,** a weaker shinobi could sneak up on and get an advantage over a stronger opponent.

Because of this reason the students had been practicing now on these techniques for about 3 weeks after having studied the theory for a good week and a half. The beginning of the training came in non-threatening situations.

Everyone would be standing around the training ground at the academy as chunin instructors would pass by giving them tips and pointers as to how to replace themselves of transform themselves into other objects. Usually they would use a log or a rock. As the weeks progressed so did the training methods...

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><p><strong><strong>Academy - Training Ground 1 <strong>**

Multiple kunai were whizzing past at high speeds as a blond haired boy bobbed and weaved past them. In front of him were a series of trip wire traps hiding nasty surprises along with numerous low-grade explosive tags lined along the trunks of trees. About 500 meters ahead of him blocked by a trail of death was his objective.

A white flag with a painted smiley face.

He landed with a crouch, noticing a rustling in the bush to his left, too late as the volley of kunai had already arrived at his position making contact.

Out of the bush jumped another blonde, this one female, shouting with glee,

"Got'em!"

in her haste she had failed to notice the puff of smoke that signaled a perfect **kawarimi, **she was left staring a log embedded with her kunai as she shouted in frustration,

"Damn it!"

A short distance away the boy chuckled under his breath at having duped Ino once again. He stole a quick glance at the clock by the fence

10 minutes left.

Carefully maneuvering his way past the trip wire traps,he made care to avoid the explosive traps set on the trees. Having arrived in a clearing he quickly noticed the presence of two of his classmates as an explosive tag went off near his feet. He dodged by leaping into the sky as two more volley's of weaponry came spiraling towards him.

Walking out of the foliage came his two classmates Kiba and Shino, confident in their victory as they watched their weapons approach the blonde.

As they watched the weaponry phased through the blonde, dissipating the illusion. Kiba's frustration was evident,

"Damn it! Where is he?!"

Having brought his two classmates out of hiding he quickly snuck around them and made his way towards his objective, he had this gut feeling he knew who would be waiting for him at the end. Speeding through the final treck, he noticed the chunin examiners keeping watch through the branches. With a smile he sped up excited to see what awaited him at the end of the exam.

Arriving near the flag pole he walked forward to grab the flag until he heard the familiar sound of an exploing tag near his feet, leaping backwards he flipped through the air landing gracefully as he faced his opponent.

Standing before him was one Uchiha Sasuke. One arm in his pocket as he gave him his usual superior smirk.

"Hn, give it up dobe. You can't get past me."

Naruto could barely suppress his grin.

"Heh, I've been waiting for this all day teme. Bring it!"

Having finished their banter Naruto quickly took another look at the timer, taking stock of his time. He had 7 minutes left. Sasuke had finished in 4 minutes 37 seconds. He had a good 2 and a half minutes to play with if he wanted to beat him.

Rushing forward Naruto threw the first punch aiming towards Sasuke's mid-section, but found he was easily blocked and swept aside as Sasuke aimed a kick towards his ribs. Ducking underneath the kick Naruto quickly retaliated with a leg sweep. Even with his **S****haringan** activated Sasuke found it difficult to keep up with the blonde's speed. Barely avoiding his leg sweep by leaping over.

He descended with an axe kick, his eyes blazing red, as Naruto struggled to get a cross-block up in time, taking a glancing blow, but managing to latch on to Sasuke's leg, using his momentum to throw him hard onto his back. Using a sweeping motion with his legs Sasuke was able to get Naruto to let go of his leg and off-balance. Coming up he waited for Naruto to come and attack him once again, relying on his Sharingan to predict his opponents movements and countering approriately.

Knowing Sasuke's motive was to stall him Naruto had begun to fomulate his plan, looking over at the timer he realized they had been fighting for a good 2 minutes. He had less than 30 seconds left. The smirk on the Uchiha's Face was insufferable...

Just like that genius had struck. Bringing his hands together he made a single seal,

**Ram**

**"Orioke no Jutsu!(Sexy Technique!)"**

In an puff of smoke Naruto was replaced by a beautiful blonde with twin pig-tails. She had 3 whisker marks on each cheek and beautiful blue eyes that screamed sin, the clouds of smoke that had appeared from the initial **henge** had covered her modesty.

"Ooooo Sasuke-kuuun," she said seductively.

Instantly the entire male population including the Uchiha flew backwards as all the blood rushed to their heads.

Having sufficiently distracted everyone, Naruto quickly dropped his **henge** and ran up to the pole grabbing the flag with a second to spare as the timer read 4 minutes 38 seconds.

Before he could enjoy his victory over the Uchiha, Naruto was struck with a killing intent the likes of which he hadn't encountered since the time one perverted white-haired man attempted a B&E at the Senju estate to peek on Tsunade. The amount of Killer Intent that was released was enough to mobilize an entire ANBU platoon and freeze everyone within a half-mile radius.

Turning he notice the entire female population was focusing their killing intent on Naruto, including one Hyuuga Hinata, who was normally kind, and cool. Though no one's killing intent was higher than a certain pink-haired banshee, whom both Naruto and Sasuke were wary. The latter because of her undettered fan-girl tendencies and the former because of her unnatural strength when angered.

"NARUUUTOOO!"

Before he could even react he received a mammoth right hook to the face and was launched backwards into a tree partially knocking him out.

In the meantime the males were recovering from their blood loss, the first to recover was Iruka who was a bit embarrassed to have been taken unaware by such a technique.

'That kid has to be the most unpredictable ninja Konoha has ever produced.'

He was currently wiping the blood of his face as he jotted down notes on the blonde's performance. He had easily passed with flying colors and honorable mentions, having had the best time. He had a clear understanding of the basic 3 techniques and could easily be labeled a prodigy along with the Uchiha heir. it seemed that the Sandaime's new teaching methods were proving effective. At first Iruka was skeptical about putting kids into dangerous situations, but after talking to the former kage he realized that a shinobi can only grow when put into difficult positions.

Having finished cleaning himself up he gathered his students and began one of his trademark speeches,

"Alright kids, this concludes our exams for the day. Moving on from today we will be moving forward to more advance techniques. For those of you who didn't pass today's examination you have 1 week to prepare for the re-take. If you fail the remedial exam you risk being dropped form the sinobi program complete," his tone serious.

"To those of you who passed I only have one word for you and that is congratulations. You have only just begun your journey as shinobi and it will only get more difficult from here. The test scores will be posted on my door tomorrow. You're dismissed."

Upon hearing the dismissal all the students began breaking off into their cliques, some downtrodden at having failed others flashing grins at having passed.

One group, however, seemed to be indifferent as they walked of towards their favorite spot. Most of the group members seemed to be glaring daggers at a certain blonde. They were known by the civilians as "The Clan Heirs." In the coming years they would be known throughout the elemental nations as "The Rookie Nine."

The group consisted of some of the more prominent clan heirs:

Aburame Shino, clan heir of the Aburame Clan.

Notorious for their use of bugs, the Aburame were skilled scouts and trackers. They were live hosts for colonies of insects and acted almost like a "hive mind" for the bugs that they used, allowing the bugs to feed off their chakra in a symbiiotic relationship. Because of their close-knit relationship with their insect compatriots they tended to favor logical solutions and tried to keep emotions away from any actions they took. The Aburame clan were feared throughout the elemental nations for their tactical minds and ruthless methods of take down. Aburame clan heads were said to be able to control up to two or three different colonies at the same time, using each colony to defend, scout or even devour their opponents, sometimes leaving no trace of them behind.

Shino himself had black hair with fair skin. Most of his skin was usually covered with a beige overcoat that covered his hair and mouth. He typically wore round sunglasses that covered his dark eyes. His voice was fairly monotonous which he modeled after his father, Aburame Shibi. His goal was to catalog every species of insect in the known world as well as breed his very own strain of insect.

Akimichi Choji, clan heir of the Akimichi Clan.

The Akimichi clan were known in Konoha as the "Gentle Giants." A fairly rotund clan they speciallized in body expansion techniques and were experts in nutrition. They were the leaders in Chakra Supplement pills, Food Pills and Ration Bars that could be found supplementing forces throughout the elemental nations. They were also one of the wealthiest families in Konoha as they owned most of the hospitality sector within the city walls. In the warring era the Akimichi clan was a known ally and benefactor of the Nara clan. They both worked together and supplied each other with medicine and food supplies, often finding each other on joint operations in order to take advantage of the uncanny synergy between their clan techniques. Akimichi clan heads were feared for their bulking physique and battlefield presence, usually standing between 20 and 30 feet tall on the battlefield taking out hordes of opponents.

Choji himself was a very gently boy with brown hair, fair skin and chubby cheeks that were marked with red swirl patterns. He typically wore a green shirt with his clan symbol emblazoned on the front and always carried a bag of chips with him wherever he went. Choji wanted a fairly simple life with good food and good friends. He wanted to be a fair and wise clan head, but was afraid he was to kind to rule his clan effectively.

Inuzuka Kiba, clan heir of the Inuzuka Clan.

The Inuzuka Clan were one of the most fiercely loyal clans in Konoha. They viewed loyalty to their pack as the highest priority while putting a high value on strength as well. They had a heightened sense of smell and hearing as they often fought alongside ninken, or ninja dogs. From the moment a ninken was partnered with the Inuzuka it was a union for life. To this day there was no Inuzuka to ever return without their ninken, else they be shunned by the pack. An Inuzuka and their ninken were paired at the age of 10 and from then on were inseparable. Since their induction to Konoha the Inuzuka were often paired with the Aburame, working in tandem they created one of the most powerful tracking teams. Their most distinguished characteristics were enlarged canines similar to their ninken and red triangular birth-marks on either cheek. The Inuzuka Clan heads were most famous for their perfect synergy with their ninken partners executing flawless combination attacks with a brutality that would tear their opponents to pieces in a matter of seconds. There are very few shinobi who can escape the nose of an Inuzuka pack.

Kiba was a cocky, brown-haired boy with tanned skin and the typical Inuzuka birth mark's on his cheeks. He dreamed of becoming the greatest Inuzuka clan heir and tracking down his deadbeat of a father and bringing him to justice for abandoning his family. He always aimed to be the alpha of the group but often found himself shut down by either Naruto or Sasuke, and found them to be the obstacles that he should overcome.

Hyuuga Hinata, clan heir of the Hyuuga Clan.

The Hyuuga Clan are most known for their infamous **Doutjusu(Eye Technique)** the Byakuugan. The Byakuugan allows the Hyuuga a near 360 degree vision along with a view of their surroundings, that when meticulously trained, could reach several kilometers. Their special fighting style, the **Jyuuken(Gentle Fist)**, allowed them to shut down the chakra pathways of their targets by shutting down their tenketsu, or chakra points, by forcing their own chakra into their opponents. The Hyuuga were the only clan that actively practiced a form of slavery by binding the "side" family, cousins, brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles, those not of the main branch blood to a seal that bent them to the will of the main branch family, citing the main branch were the stronger warriors and therefore were the future of the clan. The side family were there to serve the main family and those who disobey could have pain inflicted upon through use of the seal. The justifications of this seal were the protection of the Byakuugan. The Hyuuga Clan heads were known to be masters of the **Jyuuken** and were capable of killing shinobi with a single strike. They were some of the most feared men on the battle field, said to not have a single blind spot.**  
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Hinata however was the opposite of most of her main branch family members, she refrained form using the seal to harm her family, and treated the side family with respect and kindness. After the Kumo incident her father had assigned her uncle and cousin to be her security detail and training instructor, it was because of the kindness her uncle showed her and his willingness to teach her that she lost her shy nature. She typically wore the traditional Hyuuga kimono along with brown sandals. Her purple hair and pale skin, which would normally stand out, seemed to be overshadowed by her pale white eyes.

Nara Shikamaru, clan heir of the Nara Clan.

The Nara were a notoriously lazy clan, full of genius shinobi. Known for their proficiency with shadow techniques, the Nara are known for their tactical and strategic brilliance on the field of battle... if you could convince them to wake up. They're also known for their medical practice and their near addictive tendencies when they find something they enjoy. Their clan heads were often sought after in times of war in which they sold their services as tacticians and strategists. Most shinobi know to sooner commit seppuku than enter a battle of wits against a Nara.

Shikamaru mainly took after his clan, he loved laying down and watching clouds or playing shogi with his father. If he wasn't doing either of these things he would be hanging out with his best friend Choji, or somehow getting into trouble during one of Naruto's pranks. He had black hair that he kept pulled back in a spiky pony tail. He usually wore grey shirt with his clan symbol displayed on the front, a bored expression usually present on his face.

Together with Naruto, Sakura, Ino and Sasuke they rounded out the the would be Rookie 9.

They were currently walking towards the park, of the 9, 4 were currently giving a certain blonde the dirtiest of looks. The first to break the silence was of course the platinum blonde herself...

"Leave it to Naruto to leave it to cheap tricks to pass an exam," started Ino.

Sakura and Hinata both 'hmphed' in agreement as they crossed their arms.

Sasuke gave a non-committal grunt, while Kiba burst out in laughter as he remembered the look on the Uchiha's face the minute he saw Naruto's **henge**.

"Man you shoulda seen your face Sasuke, I wish I had a camera!" he replied through in takes of breaths, earning himself glares from Sakura and Hinata.

Naruto flashed a grin, and a thumbs up as he turned around,

"That's my new signature move the **Orioke no Jutsu **dattebayo!" replied Naruto.

Before Sakura could say anything about corrupting 'her' Sasuke-kun, Ino stepped forward and bonked Naruto over the head.

"Stop being a pervert or do you want me to tell Tsunade-oba what you've been doing with Jiraiya-sama, neh?"

Upon hearing Tsunade's name, he paled considerably. She promised to do something somewhere that didn't sound very pleasant if he ever turned out like her perveted teammate.

"Okay, okay I was just joking -ttebayo," he replied weakly. "Anyway what do you guys wanna do today?

"I vote for cloud watching," said the lazy Nara.

"You always want to cloud watch," replied Sakura.

"We could play ninja..." slyly suggested one Uzumaki.

Everyone's ears perked up. They all remembered playing ninja when they were kids, but now they were in training so they were a bit confused what the king of pranks meant by 'playing ninja.' Finally overwhelmed with curiosity Ino carefully asked,

"What do you mean by, play 'ninja'."

There was a glint in his eye as he began to enact his evil plans. He wanted to take revenge on some of the shop owners that had turned him away form their stores a while back, what better way than to use an innocent game to do his dirty work for him.

"Well when we were kids we would divide into teams and 'kill' each other right?"

Everyone nodded.

"Well, how about we set up targets, like missions. We'll break up into teams of 3 and the first team to get back to the park wins. Sound like a plan?"

With the rest of the group in agreement, they began to discuss possible targets and the division of their teams. In the end the targets and teams were chosen.

Team 1 consisted of Naruto, Shikamaru, Sakura. Their target was Gensui Amagiri, leader of the merchant guild.

Team 2 consisted of Sasuke, Choji, Hinata. Their target was Gozu Ginji, leader of the transportation guild.

Team 3 consisted of Ino, Kiba and Shino. Their target was Yamato Kuroda, the daimyo's representative.

"Alright we have our targets let's go!"

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><p><strong>Edit:I made a slight adjustment to the teams.<strong>

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**Til next time!**


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